What spiritual leaders say about immigration debate

As immigrants, legal and illegal, protest U.S. immigration policies and congressional proposals to change them, we asked our Faith & Values columnists to weigh in on the issues. This is what they had to say:

Rabbi Mark Glickman

They came by the millions. Between 1880 and 1925, 2.4 million Jews, most from oppressed communities in Eastern Europe, immigrated to the U.S. hoping to live in safety, prosperity and freedom.

Making a go of it here was tough. The streets, which they'd heard were paved with gold, were actually quite dreary places. Faced with tenement houses and grueling sweatshop jobs, dreams of an easy life quickly dissipated.

Some returned to Europe; some were crushed by the rigors of their new lives; a few became scoundrels. Yet, as a group, these immigrants did make a go of it. They and their descendants would become businessmen and scientists, philanthropists and governors, homemakers and hobbyists — Americans, drawing upon the American dream, and contributing to our nation's fate.

They came here legally — at the time, our nation allowed them in. Later would-be immigrants weren't so lucky. Laws in the 1920s closed our borders to most Jewish immigrants. In the '40s, these laws would prove disastrous. The nation that had beckoned the tired, poor, and huddled masses yearning to breathe free, would turn away millions of war refugees, abandoning them to Nazi gas chambers and crematoria.

My perspective on the current immigration controversy is a product of this history: I say, let our borders be secure, well-patrolled, and perforated by many open gates. Let's devise an effective way to exclude the small number of criminals who want in and greet the rest with a warm handshake, school-registration materials, job listings and income-tax forms. They, too, seek to become part of our great American dream, and I, a grandchild of those our nation welcomed in generations past, wouldn't dream of denying them the opportunity to do so.

Rabbi Mark S. Glickman leads Congregation Kol Shalom on Bainbridge Island.

The Rev. Patricia Hunter

It's understandable why people from other countries would want to relocate to the United States. The hope of providing a better life for one's family is admirable. Yet, I cannot condone illegal entry.

Ours is a society of law. If laws are unjust, people may choose to break them — as an act of civil disobedience — and suffer the consequences. Our immigration laws may not be favorable to migrant workers, but that doesn't make them unjust. Illegal immigration isn't an act of civil disobedience but of economic desperation.

I fault those who hire illegal immigrants for exacerbating this problem. If legal immigrants are hired, fair wages will have to be paid and labor laws obeyed. Those who hire illegal immigrants blatantly ignore labor laws and treat their workers unjustly.

The U.S. government is also to blame. Farmers need laborers to work the fields. Long ago, provisions should have been made so migrant workers could enter this country legally.

I favor finding ways for illegal immigrants to become tax-paying residents. They use government, medical and educational services often without paying their fair share to fund them, and that's not fair.

While this country spends energy and resources figuring out how to solve the immigration problem, there are those of us who wait for the government to resolve a former immigration issue — slavery. When slavery ended, a promise of 40 acres and a mule was made to help slaves who owned nothing and had given all to benefit slave owners.

The promise was never realized. None of the descendants of slaves expect land at this late date, but financial remuneration and an apology would be nice.

So before many of us can get excited about the feds solving the current immigration dilemma, we'd like a previous immigration issue resolved.

The Rev. Patricia L. Hunter is an associate in ministry at Mount Zion Baptist Church and an employee-benefits specialist for American Baptist Churches in the USA.

Aziz Junejo

The Muslim community is split on how to address illegal immigration.

The prophet Muhammad said, "None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother or sister what he wishes for himself." Muslims support all religious organizations that express compassion and mercy by offering aid and social services to immigrants, both legal and illegal, with things like food, emergency shelter, child care, guidance services and job training. Such charitable work is a part of our faith.

And various Muslim organizations get a little frustrated when our Republican leadership talks about faith and values, but then declares too many illegal immigrants are flowing into our country and that we must first take care of citizens and other legal residents. Such talk is not an expression of Islamic faith.

Personally, I support legal immigration. The present rate of illegal immigration, while a windfall to some employers, is tragic for many low-income Americans. Illegal immigrants take jobs from those here legally, and because they often work for substandard pay, they lower the pay standard for all.

I've witnessed firsthand the result of negligent immigration enforcement, from seeing individuals exploit cheap labor from hardware-store parking lots to seeing businesses, where, for example, illegal immigrants work in restaurant kitchens. We don't even have enough respect for our laws to call violators "illegal," calling them instead "undocumented."

Still, I believe as legislation makes its way through Congress, the idea of criminalizing illegal immigrants must come off the table. Instead, we need to give people an easier path to immigrate legally, and, at the same time, work much harder to stop illegal immigration.

We are a country created and cultivated by immigrants from all over the world. Our shores and borders must maintain a welcome sign to those who wish to immigrate legally. As people of faith, we must continue to champion the role of expressing mercy and compassion to those who are already here and work to create laws that will allow them to stay with dignity and respect.

Aziz Junejo is host of "Focus on Islam," a weekly cable-television show, and a frequent speaker on Islam.

Pastor Mark Driscoll

My perspective on the immigration issue is shaped by the teachings of the Bible. It is important for Christians to keep five biblical principles in mind.

• Christians must practice hospitality and lovingly welcome strangers from other nations. Leviticus 19:33-34 says, "When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself. ... "

• God commands strangers immigrating into a nation from other lands to abide by the customs and laws of their new nation. Romans 13:1-7 says that God works through governments to bring justice and social order.

• God cares for and defends those immigrating to a new nation because He loves them. In Exodus 22:21, 23-24 God says, "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him. ... If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused. ... "

• Immigrants should be given economic opportunity including fair wages. Deuteronomy 24:14 says, "Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns."

• God commands that immigrants be given justice. Deuteronomy 24:17 says, "Do not deprive the alien ... of justice."

As a Christian I believe that God will bless our nation if we lovingly welcome immigrants, provide them fair economic opportunities, and treat them with justice. I also believe immigrants should abide by the laws of our nation.

Pastor Mark Driscoll is founder of the nondenominational Mars Hill Church in Ballard.

The Rev. Patrick Howell

In the debate over immigration reform, people of faith may feel torn by an apparent choice between the call of Jesus to welcome the stranger and the need for secure national borders. The dilemma is a false choice.

The position statement of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops achieves both a humane immigration policy and national security. It encourages legislation that includes a guest-worker program for 480,000 work permits annually — adjustable to labor demands. And it provides guest workers a path to citizenship after a period of employment. It also calls for payment of fines and back taxes, background checks, and study of civics and English.

This proposal regulates our borders while recognizing these workers are contributing to our economic growth and deserve an opportunity to earn citizenship. These are laborers, after all, who harvest our food, build our homes, and are the backbone of the hospitality industry (hotels, restaurants, etc.).

American Catholics should be particularly sensitive to the history of prejudice against immigrants. The most telling period of such prejudice may have been in the 1850s when the Know-Nothing party flourished. The party was an outgrowth of the strong anti-immigrant and especially anti-Roman Catholic sentiment that started when a huge tide of immigrants — Irish in the East and Germans in the Midwest — seemed to pose a threat to the economic and political security of native-born Protestant Americans.

With compassion and care, in our own century, we can both welcome the stranger and secure our borders.

The Rev. Patrick J. Howell is a Jesuit priest and dean of Seattle University's School of Theology and Ministry.