Tonight, we shall consider the premise that immigration is all about charity. Ye may say it is about crime, about being overrun and invaded, about them taking our medicare, and about them not paying for their hospital visits.
But -- this question of immigration -- is it really no more than a question of charity?
Thousands pour towards the border, seeking a better life, seeking escape from the countries they are in.
They are the poor, the poor of other nations.
"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best." The words echo down, three or four years later. We wonder if we could tap President Trump on the shoulder, and suggest that the poor and the neglected, indeed, are seldom considered their nation's finest.
These are the poor that come to us, not "their best."
The president proposed his plan for immigration a day or two ago. He suggested bringing in a more-educated, more-skilled, more English-proficient immigrant.
And that would slam the door on the immigrant of the present. No more fleeing Honduras and Venezuela and Guatemala because you are dirt poor, and lacking the skills to change that once you reach America.
No more charity.
Charity isn't telling a person to go hone their skills, and then they can come back and try again.
It isn't telling them to find a way to make ends meet in their own country.
It isn't telling them to quit imbibing on our welfare system, and on our hospitals.
Charity comes only in helping the poor, not in turning them away.
It does so seem to me this is about charity. It is about whether we will let in the poor of other nations, or tell them we seek not them, but those with skills, and education, and the ability to speak English.
The door shuts on the poor, to some extent, it we agree to President Trump's new rules.
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