You didn't answer my question. Do you believe they are all bad, dishonest, criminals, regardless of which South American country they are from?
To the best of my knowledge, they have followed the prescribed courses of action and have not entered illegally. Here's some info about the actual process, should you care to read it.
Is seeking asylum legal?
U.S. Border "Crisis"
Asylum seekers are not criminals: what you need to know
Yes, seeking asylum is legal. Asylum seekers must be in the U.S. or at a port of entry (an airport or an official land crossing) to apply for, or request the opportunity to apply for, asylum. "There’s no way to ask for a visa or any type of authorization in advance for the purpose of seeking asylum,” says the International Rescue Committee’s director of
immigration, Olga Byrne. “You just have to show up."
"While the administration is saying people should come here legally and follow a legal process, it's making it impossible to do so,” says Byrne. “So many individuals and families have been trying to follow a legal process, but instead they’ve been stranded in Tijuana or other northern Mexico towns because they have been denied access to any U.S. official.”
How do people seek asylum at the border?
Asylum seekers who arrive at the U.S. border are typically placed in either
immigration court removal proceedings, where they will have a future opportunity to make their case for asylum before an administrative judge, or in
expedited removal proceedings, which allow border agents to order an individual deported from the U.S. without a hearing before a judge.
However, under U.S. law, if a person in
expedited removal states a fear of return to their home country or intention to apply for asylum, they will be referred for a credible fear interview conducted by a trained asylum officer within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
The asylum seeker must prove to the officer that there is a “significant possibility” he or she is eligible for asylum, and must also be subject to a credibility assessment. If the officer makes a positive finding, the asylum seeker is referred to an immigration court where they will have the opportunity to apply for asylum before an immigration judge. If the individual does not meet the credible fear screening standard, he or she can be deported.
Some individuals who are already in the U.S., such as those who may have entered on a tourist visa or other temporary visa, may also apply for asylum. In those circumstances, the process for asylum varies.
Is it legal to cross the U.S. border to seek asylum?
There is immigration control, which everyone wants, and then there is anti-immigration "send them dark-skinned foreigners a message" folks. That's not immigration control, but xenophobia. Xenophobia is not Christian.
Please read above.
Asylum seekers
must be in the U.S. or at a port of entry (an airport or an official land crossing) to apply for, or request the opportunity to apply for, asylum. "
There’s no way to ask for a visa or any type of authorization in advance for the purpose of seeking asylum,” says the International Rescue Committee’s director of
immigration, Olga Byrne. “
You just have to show up."
Right?
Of course not. But all Christians should adhere to the moral positions of Jesus Christ. Right? An anti-immigrant mentality is not among any of those.
I doubt very much that the overwhelming majority of asylum seekers are criminals or bad people, however that isn't the point.
Every city in Mexico has an American presence where asylum can be legally sought. Immigration officials are present in a number of Mexican border towns.
Your article, from a biased source, dances around the issue of illegally crossing the border. Why ? Because it is illegal for any foreign citizen to enter the US without being screened and legally approved to enter.
You state that there is no large amount of people seeking asylum, yet you decry the length of time to legally seek asylum.
Those who are responsible for the process say the slowness is based in a flood of applicants and a lack of staff to process them. Do you think they are lying ?
Do you believe that if a legal process is slow, you are justified in breaking the law to bring about what you want ?
People are accused of being anti immigrant because they have concern about the wholesale importation of folks from central America. Have this concern, and you aren't a Christian.
My concern, and that of many isn't based in color or race. It is based in the fact that these people do not speak English, are poorly educated, if educated at all, and have no skills that would give them the ability to properly support themselves. Therefore, their healthcare and and living expenses become the responsibility of the American taxpayer to a greater or lesser extent. They most likely will not make enough money to pay income taxes, nor own property, where the funding foe schools come from. Schools that are having to adjust to students with no knowledge of America, or it's culture, or it's language. Some schools must hire translators and special ed teachers to work with these kids. All at additional cost to the school.
America is over twenty trillion dollars in debt. The American taxpayer is not a source of unlimited funds. The goose that lays the golden eggs can become exhausted, or die. Right now there are American children that are hungry, there are American veterans living on the street.
As other nations do, I support immigrants to the US be required to have a marketable skill, and the ability to assimilate.
Right now the economy is booming, and unemployment is at an all time low, but this will change. When it changes, unwarranted drains on the economy will be very obvious.
Is this a non Christian attitude ? Not at all. It is easy to be charitable when you are spending someone else's money.
It is easy to be charitable when you focus on one non American group, and ignore Americans desperately in need.
If America was not in debt, if Americans in need no longer existed, if the government had surpluses projected to exist in the forseeable future, I would have no objection at all to mass immigration to the US.
In his teachings, Christ discussed individual relationships with other individuals. The churches of the NT primarily cared fr their own members in need.
Christ never discussed government responsibilities. He never said His followers should agitate for government to apply His standard for supporting and aiding the poor.
As an individual, like most Christians, I pay my taxes to the government, and then financially support various efforts to reduce pain and suffering. Some goes to immigrants in the country legally.
In the interest of the goose being able to lay the golden eggs for Americans, I do not support a non merit based immigration system. Of those Central Americans who actually show up for their immigration hearing ( a low percentage) almost 90% are not granted asylum and are deemed economic immigrants, not eligible for asylum.
Those who feel as you do have every right to donate money to the immigrants in Mexico. In fact, if there are enough of you willing to sacrifice personally, you could ensure that they have a safe and happy life in Mexico, where culturally and by language rhey would be much more at home.