I saw a news heading today that read, “A Day without CEO’s” and went on to imagine how that would affect our country. The headline was spurred by “A Day without Immigrants”, and the propaganda of how that day would affect our country. Each is predicated on the belief that having even one such day would greatly impinge on everyday life in the U.S.
While the idea of indispensable CEO’s is stated tongue-in-cheek, the idea of indispensable immigrants is taken more seriously. Some seem even to believe that a day without _illegal_ immigrants would wreck our life style – that strict enforcement of immigration laws would be bad for us, while non-enforcement would cause our country to thrive.
Now, I favor immigration when it adheres to our established laws, but I would like to offer my own tongue-in-cheek suggestion for our nation.
A day without law! We could have a day when every law is laid aside, but let’s limit it to one area of law. Let’s lay aside the United States immigration law for just one day. Immigration law is the gatekeeper at our nation’s borders, but who needs a gatekeeper? Gatekeepers don’t let everyone enter equally!
Imagine for a minute that we live in a mansion, on a vast estate, in an idyllic setting. We have a strong, muscle-bound gatekeeper named Immigration Law who controls access to our estate and wealth. Mr. Law decides who may come in, how long they may stay, and when they must leave. No one gets through our gate without Immigration’s permission, believe me! We rest secure in that knowledge, and live peaceful lives on our estate. When we decide to adopt children – and we do adopt many – Mr. Law allows the children to enter and remain. Those children have full family rights. Others, though, may visit only as permitted, and have no family rights.
Not only does Mr. Immigration Law keep the gates of our estate – he also monitors a state-of-the-art security system on the perimeter where there are no gates. He catches any and all intruders. He stops them before they can steal what is not theirs. He will not allow the things we’ve earned through honest work to fall into the hands of others. “Immi”, as we nicknamed him, will keep our estate and our family rights safe.
But wait! We don’t want protection of that kind, do we? How silly! Let’s give our gatekeeper a day off. Let’s try “A Day without Law”! Anyone wanting to enter our estate on that day may do so. There will be no check at the gate. All may come and go freely. The perimeter security system will not be monitored. Thieves who want to steal the things for which we labored may swarm onto our estate. Any and all may become family members with full and equal rights simply by entering our estate on “A Day without Law”. By merit of having entered on that one day, they will be as surely family members as those born into the family or adopted legally. What do you think?
A day without law, even a day without one law, to show how vital law is to our country, would be a shocking day. We would reap the consequences for years. The consideration of such a day, though, is essential as we seek to hold our elected representatives accountable for dealing honestly and morally with questions surrounding immigration. It’s important for us to ask lawmakers to show their character-in-action as they deal with this critical issue. Will they retain our gatekeeper or fire him?
That’s the view from my chair. What’s your view?