{"id":100,"date":"2012-06-12T18:52:36","date_gmt":"2012-06-13T00:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/billintheblank\/?p=100"},"modified":"2012-06-12T18:52:36","modified_gmt":"2012-06-13T00:52:36","slug":"heydi-mejia-why-shes-not-the-real-immigration-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2012\/06\/heydi-mejia-why-shes-not-the-real-immigration-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Heydi Mejia: Why She\u2019s Not the Real Immigration Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019m taking a brief break from my series on President Obama\u2019s signature health-care legislation <\/a>as the case of Heydi Mejia has captured my attention \u2013 and my heart. As a\u00a0school principal, I know first hand what it\u2019s like to balance the need to enforce the rules\u00a0yet \u00a0be quick to show mercy as a child of God.<\/p>\n

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Photo via http:\/\/mysterywritersunite.blogspot.com\/2011\/12\/balance-part-two-finding-balance-within.html<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In case you\u2019ve missed her immigration problem, Heydi Mejia graduated last Friday as an Honors student from Meadowbrook High School near Richmond, VA. She had taken AP classes. Her diploma glittered with the Virginia Governor\u2019s endorsement. She had also been living under a deportation order for the last year. She won a reprieve for one year Monday.<\/p>\n

Her case has sparked a lot of immigration frustration and even anger. The Washington Post captured the dilemma well. Key graph<\/a>:<\/p>\n

What should the United States do with illegal immigrants who come to the country as children, grow up here, break no laws and want to remain? In Mejia\u2019s case, what should be done with an illegal immigrant who came to the country at age 4; who speaks better English than Spanish; who wants to attend Randolph-Macon College in Virginia and become a nurse; whose knowledge about modern Guatemala comes in part from what she\u2019s read on Wikipedia?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We should <\/em>be frustrated by the Heydi Mejia case. But she is not the real immigration problem. We should direct our frustration not at Heydi or her mother. And especially not at those with differing opinions on all sides.\u00a0 When we do so, we miss the real culprits.<\/p>\n

We should direct our angst at the reason we are in this lose-lose scenario in the first place: our leaders \u2013 of both parties \u2014 who fail to consistently enforce our laws. They caused the immigration problem by failing to enforce our laws in the first place. Now they stand to benefit from our fighting about it. Let\u2019s not be that silly.<\/p>\n

Whenever we fail to consistently enforce the rules, we end up only hurting the very ones we claimed to be helping. It\u2019s easy to think we\u2019re showing kindness by looking the other way, but ignoring the standards only leaves us all in a morality morasse where nobody wins. Least of all the cause of Christ.<\/p>\n

It happens every time:<\/strong><\/p>\n