Self-Reliance should be Part of the Solution to the Immigration Problem

  We decry the tent cities of California, and lift our eyebrow at the injustice we see in our having to endure them and blame it all on the undocumented.
  What are we saying, that they shouldn't be allowed in, because they are poor?
  We decry that they get on our social programs and through the doors of our hospitals -- without paying for their own care.
  In reply, I post a blog, saying, "If you don't have borders on your social programs, it may cause you to think you need stronger borders on your land."
  What are we to expect? These are the poor from poor countries. If they arrive in L.A. where the rent is so high, they are hardly going to be able to get an apartment.
   So, a tent city might pop up.
   I went to church yesterday. Heard a speaker speak of the Self-Reliance Initiative of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I don't know much about it, but my understanding is that it is an effort to take those who need to acquire more skills to be self-reliant and help them obtain those skills.
   Consider this: If the Honduran laborer was just a common laborer in that country, what are his odds of getting into a skilled job here? In America, he doesn't even speak the common language. He is more handicapped than ever.
  So, what is the answer? What is the solution? Do we take up protest signs and protest their being here? Do we say, The solution is for you to go back where you came from and take care of yourself?
   There are surely immigrants among the poor The Church of Jesus Christ is working with. I see what the church is doing and consider that it is an effort to help the poor become self-reliant.
   Is that such a bad solution?
   Does the U.S. or any of our states have such a program? How about our sanctuary cities? Have any of them embarked on an effort to train and help the immigrants become self-reliant? Perhaps so, for I don't know all that is going on.
   But, I can see that if there is to be a solution, this should be part of it. Nothing taught, is nothing learned. If we don't make an effort to train them, they will be less likely to get trained. If we don't help them in their efforts to become qualified for the jobs that will keep them off welfare, they are going to remain on welfare.