“That We All May Be One” is usually understood on this blog to have something to do with the unity of the Church. But, of course, it has broader implications. Not the least of which is the desire that all humankind be one — living together in some kind of peace and harmony.
How then do the draconian raids by the immigration service on defenseless undocumented workers in Iowa and California advance that end? Some 270 have now been jailed from the Iowa raid (after being retained in, of all things, a building known as “the Cattle Congress” in Waterloo, Iowa!).
These are people, of course, who were recruited to come to work (documented or undocumented) by flyers and other material sent to Guatamala, Mexico, or wherever) and who are simply doing the best they can to support their families, both here in the States and back home. Just as immigrants have done for generations in this ‘land of the free and home of the brave.’
But who’s in jail? The bosses and corporate moguls who bring these people here or the workers trying their best to make a new life? Guess.
I’m not naive. I know we have to pay attention to security at our borders. I know that unbridled “illegal” immigration must be checked. But surely there are more thoughtful and compassionate ways to address the issue than herding people into a cattle congress and jailing them with little or no due process.
The only witness to our prayer “that we all may be one” in this sad spectacle is that the churches — Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal and others — have been united in their oppostion to these raids.
I guess that’s something.
That We All May Be One 