Keith Michael Estrada
Letter by on |
Christians are using harsh language to advocate for policies contrary to the good of the tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors from Central America now in the United States. It is due to a lack understanding, perhaps, that we see an à la carte embrace of law and faith in many around us who reject the proper first action of welcoming and protecting the unaccompanied minors.
Keith Michael Estrada
Demanding that we see these minors as illegals, or aliens, is inconsistent with how law and due process are designed to protect them from persecution at home. Who are we to deny that such children are persecuted? Do asylum officers not receive training, consistent with the law, to help determine a child’s claim to asylum? Reading the USCIS’s 2009 Guidelines for Children’s Asylum Claims would help refine our perspectives.
Why do Christians chime in with positions ignorant of the perspective of these vulnerable children and that lack insight into the Central American experience, especially when the suggestion contradicts Jesus’ “for I was a stranger, and you welcomed me”?
Default use of prejudice-reinforcing language, sourcing information primarily from unfair news outlets, and à la carte Christianity produces public opinion that is often unworthy of consideration.
Letter by on |
While Congress advances legislation in response to the tens of thousands of Central Americans who have entered the United States in recent months, we must educate ourselves and seek the genuine narrative behind this surge of peoples.
Keith Michael Estrada
Upon discovering the veracious account facing Central Americans vis-à-vis the United States’ contribution through our foreign and trade policies, one would find it difficult to support any proposed solution centered on deportation.
To justify the dangerous journey, circumstances must be so horrid that all risk involved in fleeing is outweighed by the mere hope of sanctuary in foreign lands.
Like the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Central American Free Trade Agreement has helped lay the foundation for many root causes encouraging people out of their nations, such as: greater poverty and unemployment, environmental degradation, violence and trafficking.
It is heinous for the United States to consider deportation and border enforcement as our primary options when we have the resources and responsibility to respond otherwise.
It is unwise to refrain from addressing and correcting our participation in the development of the Central American experience, one which presents and favors two outcomes for the poor and vulnerable who otherwise reject illicit alternatives: flee or die.