Is There a Solution to the Immigration Problem?
By Dr. David Glesne
President, The Virtues Campus
Might the Declaration of Independence & the U.S. Constitution shed light on a better way forward?
Why are thousands of illegal immigrants from places like Honduras and Guatemala and Mexico coming across our borders? The border wall. DACA. Welfare. Healthcare. Free college tuition. Sanctuary cities. Immigrant voting. All this has created a political problem. Why does there appear to be no solution? Can the Founder’s two main documents, the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution, rooted in God’s revelation and natural law, give us guidance through the morass and confusion surrounding the current immigration debate?
Immigration is tied to the concept of nation.
Colonial Period: Early 1600s – 1760
One hundred years before the arrival of the Pilgrims and Puritans on American soil, Martin Luther posted his 95 thesis in Germany. That posting set in motion the Protestant Reformation. The Protestant Reformation not only broke up the Holy Roman Empire, it revived the concept of nation. Although, for most of its history, Western civilization has been dominated by dreams of universal empire (as in the Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the British Empire), Protestantism went on to create great nation states. Why? Because Protestantism was rooted in the biblical idea of nation.
In reading Genesis 10 and 11, the Reformers found ‘nation’ defined. In the earliest political images in the Bible, God showed his displeasure with empire and broke up the utopian aspirations of Babel. He confused human language and dispersing the people over the face of all the earth. In dividing people by territory and language, ‘nation’ was defined. Nation is “a people in a given territory speaking a common language with a single governing body.”
The Israelite’s conception of the nation has nothing to do with biology, or what we call race. For biblical nations, everything depends on a shared understanding of history, language, and religion. These are passed down from parents to children. Provided they are willing to accept Israel’s God, laws, and understanding of history, outsiders can join as well. The Hebrew Scriptures put forth a new political concept: a state or single nation that is united, self-governing, and un-interested in bringing its neighbors under its rule.
The colonists brought with them to American soil this particularly Jewish and Protestant idea of nation. A political order should be based on free and independent nations. Even though still subjects of the British Empire, the presence of the Bible at the center of their thinking would ensure that the idea of a self-determining, independent nation would be implemented in the new land. In the newly enjoyed religious and civil freedoms of American soil, the political thought of the Bible would inspire the colonists to renunciate the authority of the British Empire over them. It would lead to a declaration of independence.
The new nation would live under a new Protestant construction of the political world. It would be a world in which national independence and self-determination would come to be regarded as foundational principles. These principles came to be viewed as among the most precious of human possessions and the basis for all our freedoms. An order of independent nations would permit diverse forms of self-government, religion, and culture in grand experiments that would benefit all mankind.
The Founders
From the beginning, the Founders were committed to the ideal of an independent, national state. They understood that nation is not about ethnicity. It’s about being one nation under God. It’s about not desiring to conquer and rule over other nations. Rather, it’s about being a blessing, a beacon of freedom to the world.
They believed in national sovereignty, a notion rooted in God’s revelation in the Bible and in the nature of things. The idea of nation, a word that comes from the Latin word “natura” which means nature, means that the making of laws is written in human nature. The need for government is fundamental and we the people need to control that government.
Therefore, nations are conceived as natural things. They are places where people can understand each other and share a common final cause. In America, that final cause is the Declaration of Independence which tells us for what our nation exists. We the people can then cooperate with each other to appoint and manage a government that responds to our will.
It is the giving of consent collectively that creates a nation, a people that are to be governed by a particular form of government. The Founders’ used the term “social contract” to mean an agreement we fellow citizens make with each other to form a government. Once formed we then accept the rules made by that government. Once in the social compact, you become an exclusive body apart from the rest of humanity. The government you create is for you and your fellow citizens. Government is there to protect you and your rights. It is not there for the protection of the rest of mankind and their rights.
Policies that government needs to adopt to protect the rights of its citizens include border enforcement. One of the points of a nation is that the nation is for the people who live in that nation. Therefore, anyone who comes, has to ask permission. Citizenship is not automatic. It is given by consent of the governed.
The Founders held to the moral principle that all men are created equal. Therefore, we who have created our own government, have a moral right and duty to say who will be our future fellow citizens. This is our duty and our right, not someone else’s. It is immoral for a person to immigrate to a nation that does not want to give them citizenship. A nation exists first and fore mostly for the people who live in the nation. Anyone who comes here has to ask for permission. They can come by the consent of the governed.
The formulation of immigration policy was rooted in Natural Law. Therefore, the most important consideration was not race but character. Good character makes assimilation easier and American rights more secure. As such, immigration was encouraged from countries where the virtues needed for free government were promoted.
The Progressives: 1890s to mid-1960s
During this era, the older immigration Act of 1924 privileged immigration from Europe and especially Western Europe. The reasons cited, included a belief in the superiority of the Teutonic peoples. Non-European people needed to be assured and properly assimilated.
The Progressives of this era were not interested in maintaining territorial integrity or protecting the basic sovereignty of the United States. Illegal immigration was allowed.
The Post-60s Progressive Liberals
The 1965 Immigration Act promotes non-western immigration. Both major political parties are on the same page here.
The Post-60s Progressive Liberals hold to the idea of a universal right to immigrate to a nation as one pleases. It is anathema to go back and speak of clear border enforcement. They believe people have a universal right to immigrate to a nation, even if the citizens of that nation say they don’t want them.
All Post-1960s views of immigration have been aimed at a demographic transformation to replace the character of the older population of Americans.
Bullets For Reflection:
The current problem at our southern border has created a political problem. Why does there appear to be no solution? Could it be that at root, it is a theological and philosophical question?
Shortly before his death, Pope John Paul II, a great man and thinker, went to Mexico and made a public statement. He said that Mexicans should be free to walk into North America, because these boundaries are artificial man-made boundaries. He said all this is the Kingdom of God, and therefore we don’t have to respect these territorial boundaries. The question is an important one: Are these international borders man-made borders, or are they sacred, and have to be respected? This is a huge problem in Europe. It is a growing problem in America, and an important issue in current American elections. Could we see a clearer path forward if we took cues from the Declaration of Independence and understood immigration as a moral and theological issue?
An important question: Who decides who comes in to America? Toward an answer:
The Declaration of Independence declares two things: 1) All men are created equal, and 2) among the sovereign nations of the world, we Americans constitute one sovereign people.
Because all men are created equal, anyone can become an American. But because we are a sovereign nation, we, the people, decide who to let into our country. Individuals not born in America, do not have a fundamental right to citizenship without the consent of legal citizens.
A second important question: On what basis do we allow persons to come in? Toward an answer:
We recognize that human beings are shaped by the regimes under which they live. The universal rights of men are refracted through the dense medium of tradition, culture, religion, language, and history. As such, not all people are equally well-predisposed to assimilate into our way of life. In order to continue to be “one nation under God,” we must preserve and renew patriotic assimilation. National security must not be compromised. We should consider such matters in making immigration decisions. In addition, our elected officials must respect the rule of law. That respect of law includes immigration.