A SPARK OF DIVINITY???

Weekly Opinion Editorial

A SPARK OF DIVINITY?

by Steve Fair

      President Obama has requested $3.7 billion dollars to spend on the immigration situation at our southern borders.   “Our view as House Republicans is that we're not going to write a blank check,” Congressman Mike McCaul, (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said.  The vast majority of the money the President is requesting would go for humanitarian needs with very little for border security and none for deportation. 

     Since April, over 250,000 underage children have made their way to the southern border and surrendered to U.S. Border Patrol agents.  Fort Sill is housing 1,200 of them.  American taxpayers are paying for their food, healthcare, and housing.  Congressman Tom Cole, (R-Oklahoma) has repeatedly said the military installation should not be used for housing illegal immigrations.  Cole tweeted last week; “HHS recently requested expanded & longer use of DoD facilities to house illegal minors swarming our borders.  As suspected, the president’s "temporary" plan to use military bases for housing illegals is looking permanent.“    

     On the other side of the aisle, the view is much different.  Democrat House leader Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, (D-Calfornia) said this after visiting a facility housing the illegals: "This crisis that some call a crisis, we have to view as an opportunity," Pelosi said. "If you believe as we do that every child, every person has a spark of divinity in them, and is therefore worthy of respect -- what we saw in those rooms was [a] dazzling, sparkling, array of God's children, worthy of respect."   Pelosi is a little off on her theology and obviously doesn’t subscribe to the ‘fallen nature’ of mankind.  For more on this critical issue- the depravity of man- go to http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/piper/depravity.html.  As I have often said, how an elected official views the nature of man will dictate how they will govern.  Pelosi is clearly has an unbiblical worldview if she believes that man has a 'spark of divinity' that merely needs fanning.  Man has a wicked sin nature and without the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit will never seek to find God.  Any elementary student of scripture would know that, yet one of the most powerful members of Congress doesn't.  Pelosi also said this is an opportunity for the U.S. to address true immigration reform.  Pelosi and most Democrats favor unconditional amnesty for illegals.    

     Here are some points to ponder on the current immigration situation.

     First, this ‘crisis’ was created by President Obama and the Democrats.  Current U.S. policy allows Mexican child migrants to be sent back quickly across the border. However, under a 2008 bill meant to combat child trafficking, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, children from Central America must be given a court hearing before they are deported. Given the huge backlog of cases, they usually have to wait years for a hearing.  To add fuel to the fire, in 2012, five months before his 2012 re-election, President Obama announced that his administration would stop deportations of more than a half-million young adults, often referred to as "Dreamers," brought illegally to the U.S. as children.  Most were from Mexico.  Hispanics subsequently turned out to vote in record numbers and more than 70 percent marked their ballots for Obama — helping him win the popular vote and triumph in key battleground states.  Make no mistake about it- Democrats see the current immigration crisis as a political opportunity to gain the upper hand in future elections, especially in Texas and Arizona.  This is more about elections than anything else.

     Second, most of those crossing the southern border are in violation of published immigration policy.  The Department of Homeland Security website lists an array of restrictions on those wishing to enter the United States.  Among those barred are people with “a communicable disease of public health significance.”  HHS has admitted that many of those flooding our southern border have, or are suspected of having, such diseases.  The restrictions also include children who haven’t received vaccinations for certain types of diseases, including “mumps, measles, rubella, polio, tetanus, diphtheria, and the flu.  Do you believe the kids pouring across our borders are carrying with them proof of vaccinations?  Yet they are being allowed to stay.  The Obama administration has no respect for the rule of law.

      Third, the first and best course of action to start to fix this mess is to secure our borders.  Peggy Noonan wisely wrote that ‘a nation is not a nation with a border.’  Currently we have no southern border.  Texas Governor Rick Perry has called for sending National Guardsmen to the border until more U.S. Border Patrol agents are trained and ready for action.  Congressman McCaul has said the House Republicans are hoping to pass a bill to change the 2008 law that has created this mess.  They hope to do it before the August recess.  But with the Ds in the charge of the Senate, its unlikely Harry Reid will give it a vote on the Senate floor.  Illegal is defined as; ‘contrary to or forbidden by law.’  America is a nation of laws and when an immigrate illegally enters our country, they are breaking the law.  No matter how sick or poor they are or how desperate their situation is, they are still breaking the law.  America is a land of opportunity and we are a nation of immigrates- LEGAL IMMIGRATES.  If any money is spent on this situation, it should be to send these lawbreakers back to their home country.