The ideal immigration/border policy

Events occurring and how they relate/affect Anabaptist faith and culture.
User avatar
mike
Posts: 5371
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 10:32 pm
Affiliation: Conservative Menno

Re: The ideal immigration/border policy

Post by mike »

lesterb wrote:Okay, in light of the last several posts, here are the feelings of a Canadian.

We live about 45 minutes from the US border. I have, over the years, been asked various times to attend meetings in the US. Sometimes this involved speaking there. Often it meant that my expenses were paid, and sometimes even my time. Crossing the border was always an issue, until all of a sudden I started just getting waved through, almost. I had been called in for secondary inspection at the airport. Did the supervisor put a note on my profile? I don't know.

But now I have no idea what to expect. What are the chances of getting turned back? According to what I've been reading it could be a good possibility.
What do you think US immigration and border policy should be, ideally?
0 x
Remember the prisoners, as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated, as though you yourselves were suffering bodily. -Heb. 13:3
PeterG
Posts: 894
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 4:52 pm
Location: Central PA
Affiliation: Conserv. Mennonite

Re: The ideal immigration/border policy

Post by PeterG »

I'm not sure how much this has come out on MD/MN, but generally speaking I sympathize with a free market, classical liberal point of view. Prudence would dictate some basic security precautions, but aside from that I believe it would be best if governments allowed market forces to determine human migration. Economic arguments in favor of immigration restrictions are arguments in favor of government intervention in the labor market, and cultural arguments in favor of immigration restrictions are arguments in favor of government intervention in the culture (which rather alarms me). Two more observations: First, we already allow market forces to determine migration within our country, with obvious benefits, and a similar attitude toward migration into or out of our country is not so different. Second, the common objections to immigration have been repeated since the beginning of American history. They'll take all the jobs, their nature and culture (German, Irish, Chinese, Italian, Slavic) is alien and they can't/won't assimilate, they're bringing dangerous ideologies (Catholicism, socialism, anarchism), they're bringing poverty, disease, and crime. It's all been said before, many times over, and if these arguments had prevailed in the 19th and early 20th century most of today's opponents of immigration wouldn't be here to say anything about it.
0 x
"It is a weird" —Ken
joshuabgood
Posts: 2815
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2016 5:23 pm
Affiliation: BMA

Re: The ideal immigration/border policy

Post by joshuabgood »

I am against the nation-state and am part of the Kingdom of God. Therefore I don't believe in borders like the nation-states do. I think all people should be able to move around God's earth and live where they will. Just like I can move where I will in the USA. Further, if you believe free trade is good, which I do, then you must also agree that labor is part of the trade equation and as such it should also be free to move around.
0 x
Ernie
Posts: 5446
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2016 2:48 pm
Location: Central PA
Affiliation: Anabaptist Umbrella
Contact:

Re: The ideal immigration/border policy

Post by Ernie »

joshuabgood wrote:I am against the nation-state and am part of the Kingdom of God. Therefore I don't believe in borders like the nation-states do.
Except in the kingdom of God, right? :)
0 x
The old woodcutter spoke again. “It is impossible to talk with you. You always draw conclusions. Life is so vast, yet you judge all of life with one page or one word. You see only a fragment. Unless you know the whole story, how can you judge?"
User avatar
Josh
Posts: 23826
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 6:23 pm
Location: 1000' ASL
Affiliation: The church of God

Re: The ideal immigration/border policy

Post by Josh »

A reality we have to deal with that is that God created different tribes, nations, tongues, and peoples. Different nations, tribes, tongues, and peoples mean there must be some kind of boundaries between such things, and man's attempts to erase them were thwarted at the Tower of Babel.
0 x
Judas Maccabeus
Posts: 3878
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 11:13 am
Location: Maryland
Affiliation: Con. Menno.

Re: The ideal immigration/border policy

Post by Judas Maccabeus »

lesterb wrote:Okay, in light of the last several posts, here are the feelings of a Canadian.

We live about 45 minutes from the US border. I have, over the years, been asked various times to attend meetings in the US. Sometimes this involved speaking there. Often it meant that my expenses were paid, and sometimes even my time. Crossing the border was always an issue, until all of a sudden I started just getting waved through, almost. I had been called in for secondary inspection at the airport. Did the supervisor put a note on my profile? I don't know.

But now I have no idea what to expect. What are the chances of getting turned back? According to what I've been reading it could be a good possibility.
Don't feel bad, my wife and I got pulled off of a train, while entering Canada, and taken to the "little room." They seemed to have some sort of notice on my wife.....only it was not my wife, but a "names the same." We were able to get back.

I think with the poleriferation of electronic data, the chances of a false match have gone way up. Hence, people are detained for what appears to be no good reason.
J.M.
0 x
:hug:
joshuabgood
Posts: 2815
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2016 5:23 pm
Affiliation: BMA

Re: The ideal immigration/border policy

Post by joshuabgood »

Ernie wrote:
joshuabgood wrote:I am against the nation-state and am part of the Kingdom of God. Therefore I don't believe in borders like the nation-states do.
Except in the kingdom of God, right? :)
Well...partially I guess. But we have an open immigration policy...and we allow folks to leave.
0 x
Post Reply