We have 1st generation immigrants in our congregation.  They came, legally, from Mexico.  As I’ve gotten to know them, they have little respect for illegal immigration.

I know a Pastor in LA, an immigrant himself.  He’s shared with me the frustration he feels when he preaches in english (to a hispanic congregation) and when he suggests illegal immigration doesn’t follow the Christian ethic.  He’s shared the hostility he’s experienced from other immigrant Pastors who don’t agree with his convictions on legal immigration and assimilation.

Today I read this.  I have to say, I don’t get it.  To support amnesty for illegal immigrants (regardless of their home of origin) seems to be rewarding criminal behavior.  I know the arguments, I just think they all ignore this clear concept:  if you reward bad behavior, you get more of it.  This is precisely what has happened.  In the 1980’s Pres Reagan granted amnesty to illegal immigrants.  Now we’re discussing doing it again.  So, apparently, our immigration laws are meaningless.  Sneak in, keep your head down, and eventually you’ll be forgiven.

I wonder if my immigrant friends are the only legal immigrants who don’t understand this push to reward illegal immigration.  I wonder if other legal immigrants are asking themselves what the point of following the rules was.

Of course, as CNN’s article makes clear.  Even for the Evangelicals, it is not really about love–it’s about politics.

But evangelical leaders are also working to convince Republicans that the party will lose Hispanic voters — a fast-growing bloc — if they take a strident line on immigration.

The Southern Baptist Convention‘s Land said that Hispanics, like non-Hispanic white evangelicals, generally take a conservative approach to social issues like abortion and gay marriage, but that they often vote for Democrats because of the immigration issue.