{"id":747,"date":"2018-07-06T22:51:39","date_gmt":"2018-07-06T22:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/?p=747"},"modified":"2018-07-06T22:51:39","modified_gmt":"2018-07-06T22:51:39","slug":"sanctuary-refugees-and-immigration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/?p=747","title":{"rendered":"SANCTUARY \u2026 REFUGEES AND IMMIGRATION"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>One of the joys of parenthood is introducing your children (as they reach appropriate ages) to significant pieces of culture from before their time (significant, at least, in the eyes of the parents).\u00a0 A few summers back, my husband and I seized on the window of opportunity (our children being still at home but young adults soon to be off on their own) to introduce them to something that roughly coincided with their births \u2013 the best Star Trek<\/em> series ever: Deep Space Nine<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 When the series concluded in 1999, they were both too young to have watched it.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s always a risk when you do this that the storylines and production values (not to mention special effects technology) will prove to have not stood up well over time.\u00a0 In retrospect, there was little chance of that happening with this particular series.\u00a0 Many of the stories, as science fiction does at its best, offer commentary on issues that remain contemporary \u2026 perhaps because, well, human nature being what it is.\u00a0 As my husband and I watched them again (and our kids watched for the first time), I was struck by a number of episodes that seemed as contemporary now as they did then \u2026 which is probably what made those particular stories (and the series as a whole) so memorable.<\/p>\n

One episode that stood out when we watched it with the kids a couple years ago \u2013 and seemed perhaps even more relevant when I caught part of it a few weeks ago as hubby was amusing himself with the nightly \u201cAll Trek\u201d broadcast on you-might-know where \u2013 was titled \u201cSanctuary.\u201d<\/p>\n

This episode came around the mid-point of the second season of the series.\u00a0<\/a> To understand the story in the episode requires a little knowledge of the series itself.\u00a0 Deep Space Nine<\/em><\/a>, as the name might suggest, was set aboard a space station that the Federation of Planets (the heroes of the Star Trek <\/em>stories) was now staffing after the occupation of the nearby planet, Bajor, by the Cardassian Empire.\u00a0 The station is also close to a stable wormhole, a short-cut conduit between quadrants of the galaxy.\u00a0\u00a0 In this particular episode, a badly damaged space craft has come through the wormhole from another quadrant and is allowed to dock at the station.\u00a0 The first people to emerge from the ship are strangers to everyone on the station.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>Eventually we learn these people are called the Skrreeas, but initially even the fabulous universal translator cannot recognize their speech patterns and language.\u00a0 But even without language, the female, who seems to be the leader of these new arrivals, and Major Kira Nerys, a Bajoran officer who is the second in command of the station, form a connection.\u00a0 Eventually, the universal translator puzzles out the new language and communication is possible \u2026 and the story of the new arrivals comes into view.<\/p>\n

They are refugees from a planet in the Gamma Quadrant.\u00a0 First, their world was dominated by an occupying force, much as the Cardassians did to Bajor.\u00a0 But then something even worse happened as another imperial force, referred to as the Dominion (which will eventually become quite significant in the storyline of the entire series) came and devastated the planet, rendering it uninhabitable for the Skrreeans.\u00a0 The leader, Haneek, who was first to come aboard the station is seeking a new home for her entire people, some three million of them.<\/p>\n

What Haneek does not so readily disclose to her hosts is that she has been following a prophecy once given to her people.\u00a0 She has led them through \u201cthe Eye of the Universe\u201d (the wormhole) in order to find Kentanna, \u201cthe planet of sorrows,\u201d which is to be their new home. Gradually, she comes to recognize that the nearby planet Bajor is the Kentanna of the prophecy.\u00a0 At about that point, the Station Commander, Benjamin Sisko, informs her that the Federation has identified a suitable new home world for the people.\u00a0 She tells him that she has already found the new home world for her people: \u201cYour planet,\u201d she tells Kira; her people will settle on Bajor.<\/p>\n

This request, or expectation, touches off an understandable debate among the leaders of Bajor.\u00a0 Their population is already facing a famine because of the struggling recovery from the devastation of the Cardassian occupation.\u00a0 The leaders don\u2019t see how they could possibly support an influx of millions more people \u2013 and refugees at that, newcomers who are bringing very little with them, who have few resources of their own they can use.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Haneek counters that she has identified a currently uninhabited expanse of land on the planet.\u00a0 She and her people can settle there; no one would be displaced.\u00a0 But, the Bajoran leaders tell her, that area is uninhabited because it is uninhabitable; it suffered extreme devastation during the occupation by the Cardassians.\u00a0 However, Haneek has her own counter revelation: she and her people are farmers.\u00a0 All they need is land and they can support themselves.\u00a0 This does not sway the Bajoran leaders; the land is devastated \u2013 nothing can be grown there.<\/p>\n

In the end, the Bajoran leaders refuse to let the Skrreeans refugees settle on their world \u2026 and Haneek reluctantly accepts relocation to the planet the Federation is recommending.\u00a0 It is only hinted and implied, but not clearly confirmed, (the writers were far too clever to be heavy-handed on this point) that these refugees are an answer to Bajor\u2019s needs; in a rather literal sense, each could answer the other\u2019s prayers.\u00a0 The Skrreeans need a new home.\u00a0 Bajor needs food.\u00a0 It might be that these refugees know farming techniques that could restore the now-barren land to production and grow enough food to feed themselves and to ease Bajor\u2019s famine. But the leaders of Bajor were too fearful to take that chance.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s more than just the \u201cWe are farmers\u201d countermove by Haneek that hints at this.\u00a0 Like the Skrreeans and their trust in a prophecy, the Bajorans are also a spiritually-minded people.\u00a0 The wormhole that the refugees call \u201cthe Eye of the Universe\u201d is referred to as \u201cthe Celestial Temple\u201d by the Bajorans, who know that it is actually inhabited and sustained by extra-dimensional beings whom the Bajorans reverence as \u00a0\u201cthe Prophets.\u201d\u00a0 It does not seem to occur to the Bajoran leaders that perhaps their revered prophets have drawn these refugees to and through the wormhole to be of assistance to the Bajorans in their needs.\u00a0 Perhaps that\u2019s because, for some reason, the leaders did not include the Kai, their spiritual leader, in these discussions. (However, one of the Vedeks, a lower level of religious leader like a priest, is involved in the discussions with the Skrreeans.)\u00a0 What the Bajorans stubbornly insisted on seeing as a burden that they absolutely did not need might actually have been a gift in the guise of a beggar\u2019s request.\u00a0 But they rejected the gift and will likely suffer more in the long-run for it as the famine persists.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>How are immigrants viewed among our people in our country, one of many on this particular planet? \u00a0Unlike the fictional Skrreeans from a hypothetical Gamma Quadrant, elsewhere in the universe \u2026 inaccessible except through some special portal, the immigrants we are facing come from other countries on this planet, the same planet we are on.\u00a0 There is a history between peoples; there have been interactions before and there will be interactions in the future.\u00a0 Past actions by our nation have impacts on others on this planet.\u00a0 Although we may speak different languages, the various languages are not unknown or unknowable.\u00a0 Translation is readily available.\u00a0 If we choose to do so, we can readily understand.<\/p>\n

So, what do we understand in this?\u00a0 Who are the immigrants coming here?\u00a0 Why do they come? \u00a0What do they seek?<\/p>\n

There seems to be little conflict over immigrants from other first world nations, reasonably prosperous countries who apply for an obtain one of the openings extended to residents of these types of nations, who come on the H1B Visas by which employers can support someone from another country to come.\u00a0 These people are clearly capable, self-supporting, motivated, law-abiding and share in our common values.\u00a0 We tend to see them as much like us; they will fit right In with the rest of us and be fine additions to the American population.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Most of the public concern is directed toward those who come from poorer countries, who seem to lack resources (wealth, education, potential to contribute value to our society).\u00a0 Because of the generally lower level of education than is common in wealthier countries, these immigrants tend not to be able to speak English.\u00a0 (In wealthier, more educated countries, English is one of the foreign languages commonly learned by school students.)\u00a0 Often, their skin tends toward darker hues than is common for most Europeans or what is considered normal among a declining majority of Americans.\u00a0 Immigrants and refugees (and there is a difference) often come with little more than the clothes they are a wearing and whatever they can carry with them.<\/p>\n

Are they gifts \u2013 or are they burdens \u2026 coming with too many needs, too few resources, too many limitations and potential liabilities \u2026 a drain on our society in multiple ways?\u00a0 \u00a0Why are they coming anyway?\u00a0 More importantly, what was the role of our nation in creating the very circumstances they are so desperate to escape?<\/p>\n

First, there is the specific case of refugees.\u00a0 All refugees are immigrants, but not all immigrants can be considered refugees.\u00a0 Asylum-seekers are not refugees.\u00a0 A displaced people group is qualified for consideration as refugees but the UN High Commissioner for Refugees<\/a>.\u00a0 Their plight is clear.\u00a0 They have been displaced from their homeland, generally by some act of violence such as a war; they cannot return to the place they left and expect to survive.\u00a0 Once that determination is made, preparations begin to relocate the refugee populations.\u00a0 Representatives from the commissioner\u2019s office work with families on their applications.\u00a0 Applicants are interviewed individually; if the individually stories of the family unit do not match, all the family members will have their applications rejected.\u00a0 There are basic health screenings and wellness checks.\u00a0 The whole process takes well over a year.\u00a0 Once approved, the refugees are sorted into groups and assigned to the receiving country.\u00a0 They will spend a few months in preparation for their new locations, but they often do not know exactly where they will be relocated to until a couple of days before their flights.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>When the US receives refugees, they are eligible for public benefits immediately.\u00a0 (No other immigrants are eligible for these.)\u00a0 However, they can only have those benefits such as food stamps and cash assistance for a limited period of time.\u00a0 Once that time passes, the refugees are expected to be self-supporting.\u00a0 Volunteers from refugee sponsorship groups often assist the new arrivals in managing the transition, settling into their new homes, finding work, etc.<\/p>\n

Given our participation in recent conflicts in the Middle East, do we not have some responsibility for the refugees these conflicts have created?\u00a0 This may be especially true in Syria.\u00a0 There is no doubt the current ruler, Bashar Assad, has committed numerous atrocities against some of his own people.\u00a0 The country would be better served if he were removed.\u00a0 However, there are no clear replacements who would be reliable in doing good, not harm.\u00a0 Furthermore, to take on Assad directly is to invite open military conflict with Russia, something no one wants (and with good reason).\u00a0 Therefore, since we cannot resolve the conflict, do we have some role \u2013 responsibility, even \u2013 in doing what is possible to mitigate the very real suffering?<\/p>\n

Asylum seekers come as individuals, rather than groups. \u00a0They are facing direct risk of violence or persecution in their homelands that is directed at them personally.\u00a0 The threats may be due to a person\u2019s political activities or affiliation, identity, life situation \u2026 any number of things.\u00a0 By both international and US law, anyone may present her or himself at the border and request asylum.\u00a0 This is a legal form of migration.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Many of the immigrants currently in the national spotlight on our southern border are seeking asylum.\u00a0 They are fleeing violence in their homelands \u2026 sometimes from husbands, but mostly from gangs \u2013 gangs that may be menacing the whole family or just the sons.\u00a0 The threats are real.\u00a0 The governments are ineffective.\u00a0 People would never risk the arduous journey from their homes in Central America through Mexico (where the risk is slightly reduced and the government is slightly more effective) if the homeland weren\u2019t still more dangerous.\u00a0 Parents would never send their children unaccompanied on \u201cthe beast\u201d (the roof of a train many immigrants ride through Mexico to the US border) unless that was safer than keeping them at home.<\/p>\n

We know why they come, but what responsibility do we have to receive them?\u00a0 More, perhaps, than we want to acknowledge.\u00a0 The hyper-violent gang, MS-13,<\/a> has received much mention these days \u2013 usually in the context that it\u2019s coming here from there courtesy of illegal immigrants.\u00a0 That\u2019s not actually the case.\u00a0 The gang was born here among El Salvadoran immigrants in the 1980s who were into drugs (marijuana, mostly) and death metal music.\u00a0 As part of the War on Drugs, they were sent to prison where they learned US gang culture, especially violence \u2026 which interacted with the satanic lyrics of death metal music in horrifying ways.\u00a0 When these immigrants were released from prison and subsequently deported, they took what they learned here home with them.\u00a0 Our culture played a significant role in creating the gang; do we owe it to the victims to help mitigate that damage?<\/p>\n

While the argument that the governments in those countries should be protecting their citizens, acting to stop the gangs and end the violence is valid, the reality is the governments are corrupt and ineffective.\u00a0 That, too, is a result of US policies.\u00a0 Fearing the \u201cdomino effect,\u201d that communism might spread in Central America and migrate north to our border, the US took sides with military aid, CIA operations, and the School of the Americas all supported countermeasures to be directed against communist insurgents.\u00a0 \u201cCommunist\u201d became a flexible term directed at anyone challenging the status quo.\u00a0 A number of dictators and leaders were trained by or supported through these programs.\u00a0 Having crippled governance by the will of the people and supported corrupt leaders, do we not have some responsibility for the current suffering of the immigrants requesting asylum here from the mess we cultivated there?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And then there are the \u201cdreamers,\u201d children who were brought across the border by their parents, most when they were quite young.\u00a0 These children have grown up in this country, attended school alongside US-born children, participated in US culture for much of their lives.\u00a0 Often, it\u2019s only when they are seeking to do normal things for US teens \u2013 get a driver\u2019s license, go to college, etc. \u2013 that they learn they lack the necessary documents, that they were actually not US citizens as they had thought themselves to be.\u00a0 Their plight is not unlike that of Tom Hanks\u2019 character in the movie The Terminal<\/em><\/a> \u2026 no way forward and no way back.\u00a0 They don\u2019t have legal status in the US \u2013 and they likely lack similar documentation for re-entry to their countries of origin, countries that would be as unfamiliar to them as to any of their US-born peers.<\/p>\n

They are here.\u00a0 They identify as American.\u00a0 Their peers who grew up here with them see them as belonging to their communities.\u00a0 But for the accident of their births in another country, they are otherwise Americans.\u00a0 What is the right thing to do?\u00a0 Leave them in perpetual limbo?\u00a0 Deport them to a country they do not know, that has not been home for significant parts of their lives (assuming the other country can be persuaded to take them back without documentation)?\u00a0 Or do we acknowledge what is at present, let go of how they came to be here, and give the Dreamers a way to move forward as Americans?\u00a0 There are no perfect answers to this particular dilemma.\u00a0 However, which option is most true to how we imagine our nation to be?<\/p>\n

Some years ago, I came across a suggestion to pray for our country over the weeks between Flag Day (June 14th<\/sup>) and Independence Day (July 4th<\/sup>).\u00a0 During this time, I regularly use prayers that were written in late 1960s and published in 1970.\u00a0 Among the petitions are these words:<\/p>\n

We pray You would make this nation a haven for refugees, for the persecuted and the displaced.\u00a0 We pray You would urge<\/em> [people] in our nation to pursue always the search for human freedoms.\u00a0 We pray You to stimulate the leaders of this nation to regulate our government that it will offer the hope of freedom for all who swear allegiance to it.\u00a0 We pray you to forgive our sins of pride, bigotry, lawlessness, indifference, and license. \u2026 Forgive us our waste of natural and human resources, for the neglect of our own rights and the rights of others.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Is this who we are called to be?\u00a0 Is this who we, as Americans, still desire to be?\u00a0 Or has the time has come to send the Statue of Liberty back to France and donate the plaque from its base, with the words of Emma Lazarus\u2019s poem, to Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany?\u00a0 Just who are we going to be?<\/p>\n

And here is one more layer, where the connection to the Deep Space Nine<\/em> episode is particularly pertinent: we need more people.\u00a0 Throughout its entire existence and into the foreseeable future, the Baby Boom has been the rat in the demographic snake.\u00a0 Things expand to accommodate them at each phase \u2026 and the contract in the wake.\u00a0 (I\u2019m a Baby Buster, a member of Gen X \u2013 I\u2019ve seen it firsthand by being part of a demographic disappointment my entire life.)\u00a0 The retirement wave of boomers is reaching its peak.\u00a0 Forecasts for Medicare as well as for Social Security are dire, in large part because the number of working adults per retiree is about to drop precariously.\u00a0 We need more working adults \u2013 and we need them soon (like yesteryear, if it were possible)!<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t go back in time and have more children in the Gen X and subsequent generations.\u00a0 We can\u2019t magically conjure up workers right now.\u00a0 However, if we welcomed the immigrants (however they find their ways to us) and gave them paths to citizenship and helped them hone their skills to become productive workers and full participants in our economy, then we might cooperate to address each other\u2019s needs.\u00a0 It would at least be better than whatever it is we\u2019re doing right now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the joys of parenthood is introducing your children (as they reach appropriate ages) to significant pieces of culture from before their time (significant, at least, in the eyes of the parents).\u00a0 A few summers back, my husband and I seized on the window of opportunity (our children being …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events-topics","category-musings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=747"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":764,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions\/764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}