So Does Giuliani Know the Law?

It seems it is too easy for Christians to forget that we are instructed in the Holy Bible to care for the alien living with us in our land. There seems to be a lot of fear about breaking the law among some spiritual leaders who hesitate to open the doors to their churches to the immigrant who only seek justice and not deportation.

Imagine if they will not open the doors to their church, how can even expect these Christians to open their hearts and extend charity and love to "the stranger who lives with us in our land??"

This apprehension seems opposed to Biblical teaching holding the Church responsible for caring for the unauthorized immigrant. We hear from these followers of Christ that we must support our governing authorities and not associate with these law breakers. And how they love to quote Romans 13. On the other hand, does showing charity and love to the undocumented immigrant really break the law?"

In the first place, let us make it clear it is not a federal crime to cross the border without the proper papers. If it were a crime, the Congress wouldn't have tried to make it one in the last session of Congress with HR 4437.

It is a civil violation - much like running a red light or stop sign. Running a stop sign does not make a person an "illegal driver," or criminal. Yet that is exactly what we are doing when we claim that immigrants crossing the border without the proper documents are criminals. How often have we heard...."what part of illegal don't you understand?" All from people who apparently don't understand what illegal means.

What is interesting and factual about undocumented immigrants living in the USA, is that most arrived with proper visas and have merely overstayed their visa. So contrary to public opinion or perspection, there are not hordes of people crossing the border illegally. They are crossing the border with ICE approval and proper papers in hand.

I found an interview on the issue of immigration that Gleen Beck did with Rudy Giuliani...former U.S. Attorney in New York City....former mayor of New York City....and now presidential candidate.

Here is the transcript of the interview Beck did with Giuliani on the issue of whether illegal immigration is a crime. It is one of the better explanations on the issue that many Americans do not understand.

So before we start making Pastor Coleman of the Methodist Church in Chicago a criminal for providing sanctuary to a mother and her son, maybe we should make an effort to understand more about what Giuliani is trying to explain about the law.

GLENN: "Right. But isn't illegal immigration a crime in and of itself?

GIULIANI: No. GLENN: Aren't you saying --

GIULIANI: Glenn -- GLENN: You're protecting criminals by saying that being treated as a criminal is unfair.

GIULIANI: Glenn, it's not a crime. I know that's very hard for people to understand, but it's not a federal crime.

GLENN: It's a misdemeanor but if you've been nailed, it is a crime. If you've been nailed, ship back and come back, it is a crime.

GIULIANI: Glenn, being an illegal immigrant, the 400,000 were not prosecuted for crimes by the federal government, nor could they be. I was U.S. attorney in the southern district of New York. So believe me, I know this. In fact, when you throw an immigrant out of the country, it's not a criminal proceeding. It's a civil proceeding.

GLENN: Is it --

GIULIANI: One of the things that congress wanted to do a year ago is to make it a crime, which indicates that it isn't.

GLENN: Should it be?

GIULIANI: Should it be? No, it shouldn't be because the government wouldn't be able to prosecute it. We couldn't prosecute 12 million people. We have only 2 million people in jail right now for all the crimes that are committed in the country, 2.5 million. If you were to make it a crime, you would have to take the resources of the criminal justice system and increase it by about 6. In other words, you'd have to take all the 800,000 police, and who knows how many police we would have to have.

GLENN: So what's your solution?

GIULIANI: My solution is close the border to illegal immigration.

GLENN: How do you do that?

GIULIANI: You do that by building a fence, a physical fence and a technological fence, and the technological fence is more important than the physical fence. The technological fence would alert you to illegals approaching the border well in advance so the border patrol can get there and stop them. You deploy the border patrol every 50 miles along the border. I've already outlined this on a map. I did this in detail about two weeks ago. And then you have the border patrol stop people from coming in, literally stop them from coming in. If you did that for a year or two, you would end it. You also have a tamperproof ID card that every person from a foreign country should have that comes into the United States. The goal has to be, yes, you're allowed to come to the United States but you have to identify yourself before we let you in, and we have to be sure you're a safe person. And then if you come in, you'll be in the computer base, you'll be able to work, you will have to pay your fair share, you'll have to pay taxes but we have to end it right at the border by having the resources to stop people from just walking into this country and not identifying themselves. Only the federal government can do this. If the federal government doesn't do this, there is no way that the local governments in this country can handle it other than in a practical way. If you make people that are just going to be here for the next 20 years, if you put them in a situation of danger and risk, you're going to have more crime in your communities."

So before we keep calling someone "illegal," maybe we should look within our own hearts and speedometer. If only we could help Christians understand they don't have a choice about loving the stranger living in our land....and if they refuse, just maybe we might have to refer to them as "illegal Christians." Afterall, "what part of illegal don't they understand??"