Questions for the United Methodist Church on immigration (UMC, GBCS)

The United Methodist Church (through their General Board) supports comprehensive immigration reform (aka amnesty). Here are some questions about that position keyed to umc-gbcs.org/issues/immigration

At that page, they write:

The story of the United States is the story of immigration. The history of the United States is characterized by waves of ethnic groups arriving to these shores searching for security and prosperity. Each new wave of immigrants has brought with them hopes and dreams of a better life, as well as unique strengths and contributions to give to the country as a whole. These strengths and contributions have made the United States a richer and more diverse tapestry of cultures. Unfortunately, each new wave of immigrants has also encountered the sting of prejudice and racial hatred from those already here, but who had so quickly forgotten their immigrant heritage. The immigrant values of labor, family and hope have transformed the United States and continue to bring much needed change today.

1. That's the immigration tradition fallacy. Would the United Methodist Church ("UMC") care to post a bond guaranteeing that current immigration will work out the same as past immigration?

2. That's also the unlimited membership fallacy: the fallacious idea that joining a club requires one to support anyone else joining the club.

UMC continues with three suggestions:

Learn Spanish and other languages different from your own. Share meals, attend worship services and social events with people of other races, ethnicities and socio-economic classes than yourself.

Urge your church and churches in your area to sponsor a Justice for Our Neighbors legal clinic through United Methodist Committee on Relief.

Tell your member of Congress that enforcement-only immigration reform does not work and that what is needed is comprehensive immigration reform, which entails a path to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants, the protection of the rights of workers, and reunify families separated by migration and detainment

3. While I recommend learning foreign languages, isn't what the UMC is suggesting more akin to assimilating to immigrants rather than encouraging immigrants to assimilate to the U.S.?

4. Would the UMC suggest that their members engage in social events with those Americans harmed by the massive immigration that the UMC supports? For instance, American field workers and other laborers who see their wages and the safety standards at their work decline due to employers using foreign labor? Or, American construction workers who've been left unemployed or underemployed due to the massive immigration that the UMC supports?

5. At the "Justice for Our Neighbors" page, in the "Who Are Our Neighbors" section they say one of them is a "16-year-old Venezuelan girl receiving vital medical treatment not available in her country". Isn't it a simple fact that the U.S. has limited medical resources and that allocating medical resources to that girl hampered giving the same resources to Americans who might be in a similar or worse situation? Isn't that especially true in the case of limited physical objects, such as kidneys? Would the UMC support depriving an American of a kidney in order to give it to a foreign citizen? If so, why should we Americans give the UMC anything if they're so willing to turn their backs on us?

6. Regarding the "protection of the rights of workers", why does Big Business so strongly agree with the UMC on immigration? What do they want? The answer to that is clear: Big Business wants to lower wages and safety standards in order to achieve their goal: making money. And, they UMC is squarely in their corner. In fact, the comprehensive immigration reform the UMC supports would reward the very crooked businesses that have been knowingly employing illegal aliens for decades in order to drive down their labor costs, and would encourage those businesses to continue to do that (such as by encouraging more illegal immigration after reform). The idea that "reform" would level the playing field is false; see immigration wage floor. Why is the UMC siding with Big Business and aiding policies that would harm struggling American workers?

Please ask Methodist leaders who support "reform" the questions above: @GBCSUMC