An unjust law is no law at all

The case of the “dreamers” is immensely important. I suspect that few Americans understand the case and are ignorant of the issues involved. We are a nation of immigrants. Most Americans agree that immigration into the United States should be handled in an orderly fashion. We have immigration laws. What should we do when a law is actually hurting people and not in the best interests of our society?

President Barack Obama saw a significant flaw in the U.S. immigration law. Hundreds of thousands of minors have been brought into the U.S. illegally. They and their families have not been deported. Children have grown up speaking English and are being educated in American schools. Many of the subject minors are not aware that they are illegal immigrants. In many cases they speak no language other than English. President Obama tried to get a change in the immigration law to rectify the obvious dilemma. The Republican controlled House and Senate refused to act.

Congress enacts laws, but laws are then handed over to the administrative branch of government for supervision and compliance. This places the care of the immigration law into the hands of the President. In June, 2012, President Obama issued a new policy by executive order. The order is named Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and is known simply as DACA. His executive order allows certain illegal minors to remain in the U.S. free from threat of deportation. The illegal immigrant, who came to the U.S. as a minor, under the Obama order can obtain a renewable two-year permit to remain in the only country they have known as home. Over 800,000 illegal youth have come forward and are using the permits. The DACA program has been a great success. Fear of deportation has been removed for over 800,000 people who have been functioning as Americans for several years.

Presidential powers became a campaign issue in 2016. Candidate Trump promised, if elected, to remove DACA and return the now protected youth to the status of illegal immigrants and subject to deportation to countries with cultures and languages that are strange and different from those of the U.S.

As one would expect, lawsuits and court cases now abound about the constitutionality of DACA and about the powers of the presidency. I am not a lawyer and have no valid legal opinion. I am a Christian and my first loyalty is to Jesus from Nazareth, my Christ and my Lord. I have a very strong commitment to the 800,000 minors who have been caught in a law that does not care about justice for them. They are my neighbors whom I have been commanded to love. The removal of DACA is an act of law that is grossly unjust for 800,000 innocent young people. What is a devoted follower of Jesus Christ to do?

I am a graduate of Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary at Northwestern University. It is a prestigious seminary of the United Methodist Church. Garrett has long been a leader among Christians for genuine diversity and inclusion in Christian churches. Garrett has led the way for full inclusion for women, Blacks, Hispanics/Latinos, and Asians in curriculum, faculty selection, student admissions and social practices. Recently I received a statement of protest against the repeal of DACA, signed by a large segment of the Garrett faculty and staff. It is an appeal to all Christians to take actions to help achieve the reversal of President Trump’s inhumane action.

The Garrett faculty first set the stage with the statement of two key Christian beliefs. First, Christians affirm their commitment to the flourishing of all of God’s creation. For people to seek prospering in any sense at the expense of the worth and dignity of other human beings is inherently wrong and evil. Second, God’s image in human beings is a truth for all human beings, not just a select group. The good news of the Christian gospel does not recognize national borders, skin color or language as tools for establishing superiority of any race, tribe or people.

Having set the stage, the Garrett faculty makes two specific complaints about the repeal of DACA. First, the repeal is unjust. Biblical justice is achieved when all parties are made whole.

Repeal of DACA does not establish wholeness for all. In fact the repeal action of President Trump threatens to wreck the lives of 800,000 innocent young people. In the eyes of the Garrett faculty, it is a thinly veiled action for the establishment of white supremacy. For supporters of President Trump’s edict, the repeal of DACA is a simple matter of the rule of law.

I first heard it from Martin Luther King Jr. “An unjust law is no law at all.” In the eyes of devout Christians, an appeal to the rule of law in the case of the dreamers is hypocrisy of the first rank.

The second complaint is that the repeal of DACA is blasphemy. The very words “illegal human beings” is an insult to our creator in whose image, according to Christian theology, we were all created.

The faculty letter closes with an appeal to all readers to make his/her best effort to publicly call the president’s action what it truly is: unjust and blasphemous. On this issue we have no vote. We do have a responsibility to speak truth to power.

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister who lives in Palmer. His email address Is hdbss@mtaonline.net.