Why so much conservative hostility towards undocumented immigrants?

Hammster

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I agree that people should follow the law. That's why we have laws.

However, laws are not immutable. The Congress could change the laws to make legal immigration easier. They could make visas easier to obtain, increase the quotas of immigrants who are permitted to come in from each country, and so on. I'd like to see that happen. It would allow more people to immigrate legally, instead of illegally -- thus upholding the rule of law -- and it would allow us to welcome more foreign nationals who are in need.
Yes, they could do that. And if they do, it becomes the law.
 
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A_Thinker

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I’m not sure how you made that leap.

What you quoted was part of the LAW for Israel. The LAW for America is different.

I guess that I thought that I was speaking to a christian (i.e. one who follows a HIGHER law).

If you lived in Germany during Hitler's reign, ... would you have turned in your Jewish neighbors to the legal authorities ?
 
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Yarddog

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I think that the way it worked is that the Europeans took the Americas illegally ... and then, ultimately, passed laws to severely limit who else could come to America.

I recall that slavery was once LAWFUL (i.e. legal) ... and helping a slave escape to the North was unlawful (i.e. illegal).
Americans can be quite hypocritical.
 
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SoldierOfTheKing

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So ... "Love thy neighbor as you love yourself" ... is not for christians ?

"Neighbor" in that context, meant fellow Israelites, not foreigners, and the word "neighbor" denotes proximity.
 
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Hammster

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I guess that I thought that I was speaking to a christian (i.e. one who follows a HIGHER law).

If you lived in Germany during Hitler's reign, ... would you have turned in your Jewish neighbors to the legal authorities ?
You are talking to a Christian. And I don’t live in WWII Germany.

If you are against our current immigration law (which, btw, is far less strict than Mexico’s), then work to change it. Right now, an illegal alien not only crosses over illegally, they either get jobs or benefits illegally.

When I live in SoCal, I knew quite a few LEGAL immigrants, first second and third generation. So it’s not like it’s not possible to come here legally.
 
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SteveIndy

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For the record, not every conservative is hostile towards undocumented immigrants. When John McCain ran for president in 2008, he advocated a pathway to citizenship for these people. Lindsay Graham, Jeb Bush, and other compassionate conservatives likewise support an amnesty. In fact, I’m a conservative who also feels sympathy towards the undocumented community and wants to see the government help make the good law-abiding ones become citizens.

However, Donald Trump basically became president by scapegoating people in this country illegally. When he said he would build a wall along the US-Mexico border, his support went through the roof and secured his nomination. The fact that he accumulated so much support from Republican-voters testifies to the hostility that so many conservatives feel towards undocumented immigrants. To me, this is a very sad thing.

The Bible says this in Leviticus 19:34: “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.” Obviously those foreigners residing in ancient Israel didn’t have visas or passports. They were undocumented immigrants for all practical purposes. And God is telling his chosen people to treat them as native-born residents. This means God wants us to treat undocumented immigrants in the US with compassion.

Of course I’m aware of drug traffickers, sex traffickers, and violent criminals who come here illegally. By all means deport them. But what about the ones who study hard, abide by all the laws and don’t commit crime, and live like normal people? They’ve been here much of their lives and should be given a pathway to citizenship.

As a Republican and compassionate conservative, I don’t think I’ll ever understand what motivates so many other conservatives to feel so much hostility towards people just because they’re different. Yes, they came into this country illegally, but hasn’t everyone done something illegal in their life at one time? Give them a chance.

Our GOP is besmirched with xenophobia and needs to clean up.

The reason conservative patriot Christians get all heated up over this issue is that they believe that this world is their home and really don't live at all as strangers seeking a city whose builder and maker is God? Their eyes are on this world so they are blind to spiritual realities and the Bible calls them carnal Christians who are Christians in word only and not in deed. They war, lust, and get angry to secure a piece of real estate that is destined for the furnace.
 
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FireDragon76

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Good ol' fashioned WASP nativism which has been there since the beginning.

You are right, not all conservatives are fans of that mentality. And actually for most of our history, those folks tended to vote Democrat. Republicans, early on, attracted alot of immigrants, and they were actually a somewhat progressive party inasmuch as they favored a relatively egalitarian society. But after the 1920's, the Republican party became a more conservative party, and in the late 60's, allied with the southern white identity types who used to vote Democrat

(Another interesting fact is that Ronald Reagan supported gun control throughout his career. It just shows you political history is more complicated).
 
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Rion

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Aren't most Americans illegal immigrants? Though not all Native Americans were hostile to the new settlers many were. On the eve of our Thanksgiving Day celebration, I wonder just how hospitable those tribes would have been, at first, if they knew what the European invasion would have done to their peoples. The Wampanoag Indians did eventually declare war on the settlers because of English intrusion and were almost wiped out.

No, and why doesn't anyone who uses this argument realize that by pointing out what happened to the American Indians they're basically making the case for the strictest enforcement of immigration laws as possible?

"Well, the natives didn't treat us like that when we first came here."
"...crap, you're right. If we treat these guys like the Indians did us, we'll end up on reservations. BUILD THE WALL!"

I guess that I thought that I was speaking to a christian (i.e. one who follows a HIGHER law).

If you lived in Germany during Hitler's reign, ... would you have turned in your Jewish neighbors to the legal authorities ?

So we can finally put away the Leviticus verse about laying with a man as with a woman?

Cool.

In Leviticus there are three types of law: moral, civil, and ceremonial. Moral law is the only one we, as Christians, are bound to. As for the moral aspect of it, I personally find it highly immoral to support people coming here in a manner which allows them to be treated like slaves and provides little recourse for them or anyone they might happen to harm.
 
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Hammster

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The reason conservative patriot Christians get all heated up over this issue is that they believe that this world is their home and really don't live at all as strangers seeking a city whose builder and maker is God? Their eyes are on this world so they are blind to spiritual realities and the Bible calls them carnal Christians who are Christians in word only and not in deed. They war, lust, and get angry to secure a piece of real estate that is destined for the furnace.
Could there be another reason?
 
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Halbhh

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That was for Israel.

Ok, then, you might want to be cautious about voting against immigrants though, considering that they can be the least of these:

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment..."


I think I'll be welcoming them!!
 
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Hammster

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Ok, then, you might want to be cautious about voting against immigrants though, considering that they can be the least of these:

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment..."


I think I'll be welcoming them!!
I’m not against immigrants. I’m from a family of immigrants.
 
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Yarddog

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What law did it violate?
Well, we could say the same law invoked by the Founding Fathers. "Nature's Law and of Nature's God". The America's belong to the people who occupied that land for thousands of years and it was theirs to decide what was allowable on that land.
 
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Hammster

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Well, we could say the same law invoked by the Founding Fathers. "Nature's Law and of Nature's God". The America's belong to the people who occupied that land for thousands of years and it was theirs to decide what was allowable on that land.
Then your solution is what?
 
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Yarddog

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No, and why doesn't anyone who uses this argument realize that by pointing out what happened to the American Indians they're basically making the case for the strictest enforcement of immigration laws as possible?
You would be correct if you were taking the Native American side but if you take side that immigrants should not be allowed, then that would be extremely hypocritical.
"Well, the natives didn't treat us like that when we first came here."
"...crap, you're right. If we treat these guys like the Indians did us, we'll end up on reservations. BUILD THE WALL!"
Oh, I guess, "Do unto to others as they would do unto you" didn't cross your mind? In short, if you want mercy, show mercy. If you want love, show love. If you want God to judge you, judge others.

God bless
 
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redleghunter

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For the record, not every conservative is hostile towards undocumented immigrants. When John McCain ran for president in 2008, he advocated a pathway to citizenship for these people. Lindsay Graham, Jeb Bush, and other compassionate conservatives likewise support an amnesty. In fact, I’m a conservative who also feels sympathy towards the undocumented community and wants to see the government help make the good law-abiding ones become citizens.

However, Donald Trump basically became president by scapegoating people in this country illegally. When he said he would build a wall along the US-Mexico border, his support went through the roof and secured his nomination. The fact that he accumulated so much support from Republican-voters testifies to the hostility that so many conservatives feel towards undocumented immigrants. To me, this is a very sad thing.

The Bible says this in Leviticus 19:34: “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.” Obviously those foreigners residing in ancient Israel didn’t have visas or passports. They were undocumented immigrants for all practical purposes. And God is telling his chosen people to treat them as native-born residents. This means God wants us to treat undocumented immigrants in the US with compassion.

Of course I’m aware of drug traffickers, sex traffickers, and violent criminals who come here illegally. By all means deport them. But what about the ones who study hard, abide by all the laws and don’t commit crime, and live like normal people? They’ve been here much of their lives and should be given a pathway to citizenship.

As a Republican and compassionate conservative, I don’t think I’ll ever understand what motivates so many other conservatives to feel so much hostility towards people just because they’re different. Yes, they came into this country illegally, but hasn’t everyone done something illegal in their life at one time? Give them a chance.

Our GOP is besmirched with xenophobia and needs to clean up.
It's not a point of 'hostility' but disobeying the law.
 
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