“The humanitarian issue is real and pressing — Catholics, evangelicals and other people of faith are pressing for relief for the millions of honest, hard-working illegal immigrants living in fear of deportation and separation from their families.”
This is some use of the word “honest” that I’m not familiar with. They broke the law coming here. They continue to break the law staying here. They break the law working here. They break the law getting on “benefits” which are supposed to be for citizens. I am glad they live in fear of deportation. But I expect they don’t really. How many have been deported? We can’t even deport sex offenders and chronic alcoholics who have killed innocent citizens.
Utilizing this passage as sanction for amnesty requires conscious mistranslation. This is not an esoteric quibble. The word for stranger in the Hebrew Bible is Ger v'toh-shav – "sojourner" in English. First appearing in Genesis 4:23 to describe Abraham when he dwells briefly among the Hittites in Kiryat Arba, modern Hebron, its final appearance is in the last book of the Hebrew Bible, Chronicles 29:15, when King David contrasts the transitory nature of human existence with the eternality of God on whose earth we live as temporary wanderers.
The eminent scholar Richard Elliot Friedman, Professor of Biblical Hebrew at Oxford and Cambridge universities, translates it as "alien" and "visitor." All English dictionaries define "to sojourn" as "to stay temporarily." Arguing some 11 million illegal aliens should remain here permanently finds no support in Leviticus. As noted, there’s no term for "immigrant" or "immigration" in the Hebrew Bible, and the Book of Ruth is an exceptional narrative about the adoption of a new national identity. Ruth, a Moabite, determines to remain with her Israelite mother-in-law after her husband’s death and become an Israelite. It's instructive to contrast the powerful assertion of national belonging Ruth expresses to Naomi with the apparent indifference to national identity or loyalty to a competing one that characterizes so many contemporary resident aliens. Ruth says, "Wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people will be my people and your God will be my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried." The Book of Ruth provides perhaps the most ancient expression of the ideal of patriotic assimilation.
Fewer than 25 percent of foreign-born Mexicans have naturalized. The Pew Hispanic Center reports that number dropped 62 percent in the last year; one explanation is the cost of filing for naturalization rose $265.00. In the Book of Ruth we encounter an outsider’s total identification with an adopted nation and longing for complete absorption. Among a great many contemporary transnational migrants (a more accurate term than "immigrant") we see something very different. Whether stemming from the anomie of the deracinated, economic calculation, unwillingness to choose between identities, or more likely, an abiding loyalty to Mexico – all Mexicans remain Mexican by Mexican law – there’s scant indication of a parallel desire to embrace American identity. This is especially true when that requires paying a price for wholesale violations of American law, playing by the rules, and going to the back of the queue. A recent survey conducted in Mexico finds 69 percent of Mexicans believe their compatriots in the United States owe Mexico primary loyalty; another finds 62 percent of Mexicans harbor irredentist attitudes, regarding the American Southwest as Mexican. Can one even disaggregate these groups – Mexicans here, Mexicans there – given porous borders, their peregrinations, and Mexico’s unbroken ties – ideological and legal –on its children here?
The Hebrew Bible addresses inclusion of strangers/aliens in civil and legal terms in several places. (Exodus, 12:49; Leviticus, 24: 22; and Numbers, 15:14). It proclaims: "One law for the citizen/native and the alien/stranger that dwells among you." But this is no Bill of Rights for sojourners. The Bible demands strict obedience to Israelite laws and norms. Aliens gain rights only through lawful residency. While "aliens" need not convert, they must embrace monotheism, the bedrock of Judaic civilization. The punishment for idolatry is death. Strangers had to pay taxes, demonstrate civic loyalty by making the annual pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem, and preserve social order.
The Bible draws a bright line between its religiously defined notion of being a citizen – in Biblical Hebrew the word is ezrach – from a sojourner. While forms of legal residency for those outside the covenant find sanction in the Hebrew Bible, only conversion to Judaism conferred all rights and made one a full member of the people (for example, the remittance of debts every seven years was not permitted to resident aliens). The idea that conversion confers full rights is paralleled by a prepositional conception of American citizenship.
Leviticus 19:33 exhorts us to "Love the stranger." "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" is not about love; it’s about exploiting cheap labor, Hispanic identity politics, and creating a permanent Democratic political majority. Leviticus does not command us to exploit strangers for profit or political advantage. Contemporary immigration pits hard-pressed constituencies against each other: poor illegal aliens against America’s unemployed, working poor, and working class, including legal immigrants. The competition gravely harms our fellow citizens, especially during times of acute economic distress. Our "jobless recovery" means nearly 10 percent of us are "officially" unemployed. Some 16 million are out of work, and while six citizens chase every job advertised, illegal aliens hold some seven million jobs. In this zero-sum game, our countrymen have first call on our loyalty: "charity begins at home."
The Hebrew Prophets repeatedly demand justice for the humble laborers of one’s own community. This exhortation is recited in the Bible’s "Holiness Code" read in every synagogue on the Day of Atonement. Distorting Scripture to support legislation designed to import cheap labor to depress the wages and worsen the working conditions of our vulnerable fellow citizens is not only shameful; it is also sacrilege.
Dr. Stephen Steinlight Senior Policy Analyst Center for Immigration Studies 1522 K Street, N.W., Suite 820 Washington, DC 20005-1202