By Peyton Majors
Christian Action League
February 2, 2024
North Carolina House Republicans this week sent a letter to Gov. Roy Cooper and asked him to assist Texas in securing the southern border by offering the services of the North Carolina National Guard.
The letter was signed by all 72 members of the GOP House caucus and calls the situation at the U.S. border with Mexico dire.
House Speaker Tim Moore held a news conference explaining the rationale behind the letter. Some 13,000 people are crossing the border illegally each day and contributing to the illegal drug problems across the nation and in North Carolina, he said.
“This is a clear and present danger to our country. So why are we as the state legislature wading into this?” he asked. “While Texas may be the direction folks are coming in, North Carolina is now essentially a border state. Because the folks don’t just stay in Texas. They move all over the country.”
Moore said he has visited the border and seen the problem first-hand.
“What you have right now is a situation where the federal government under the Biden administration is not enforcing the border walls. This is what happens, and I saw this with my own eyes: Folks would come across the border, just walk right in there, [be] detained for a very brief period of time, then given some money, sent on their way, and told to come back for a court date five years later. It’s an absolute joke.”
The Biden administration, Moore said, stopped the construction of the border wall.
“So, guess what’s happening? Folks are coming through. Not only are people coming through, but dangerous drugs are coming into this country.”
Fentanyl deaths in North Carolina since President Biden took office, Moore said, have nearly doubled. The number of illegal drugs in the state has increased, too, he said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott needs North Carolina’s help, Moore said. He compared the situation to a hurricane hitting the Tarheel State and the federal government refusing to help.
“This would be like the federal government saying, ‘No, we’re not going to help and guess what North Carolina? You can’t clean it up as well.’ The federal government is literally stopping Texas from trying to protect the border and to protect the people of that state, but it’s also affecting North Carolina,” Moore said.
A statement from Moore’s office said the GOP is asking Cooper to:
— “Deploy additional North Carolina National Guard troops to assist Governor Abbott, not under ineffectual federal authority, but in coordination with Texas leadership and request any needed additional resources for this deployment in your upcoming state budget submission.”
— “Commit to signing legislation that mandates cooperation with ICE by local police departments to remove illegal immigrants who are committing crimes.”
— “Halt any discretionary cooperation with the federal government to place and house illegal migrants in the State.”
Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, said in a statement that the country desperately needs immigration reform.
Creech said the immigration reform must include three elements:
— 1) “We should hold our government responsible for maintaining a secure border and implementing effective tracking measures for all individuals entering the United States,” Creech said. “This is actually the bare minimum of what should be done. This aligns with the biblical understanding of the government’s God-ordained role to protect its own people. We need an immigration policy that will assure that the immigrants who cross our borders will make a positive contribution. Do these people coming here in undocumented droves demonstrate that they either possess or will acquire by legal means sufficient education or training to support themselves? Certainly not! We should also exclude those who have criminal records, communicable diseases, or who by some evidence show that they would not make an overall positive contribution to the advancement of this nation.
— 2) “There needs to be an earned legalization process, which should also include some form of restitution for undocumented immigrants. However, when considering those who were brought to the U.S. as children — an earned legalization process should not include a requirement for restitution. This perspective is grounded in both biblical principles and legal standards, as it aligns with the idea that children should not be held accountable for their parents’ decisions. What is being described here is not amnesty, where we just say to the immigrant that we know you broke the law, but we’ll just forget about it. It’s a balanced approach, with room for showing compassion, but also honoring a necessary law to protect our borders.
— 3) “Lawmakers must get serious about this issue and stop using it as a political football. Both Democrats and Republicans need to prioritize this issue. When taken up as a legislative proposal it should be done in a stand-alone bill, without deals being brokered with political ‘horse trading.’ Immigration is so complex and of such weight it ought not to be used as a bargaining chip in unrelated political negotiations. Addressing complex and contentious issues like immigration is more effective if lawmakers from both major political parties collaborate together to craft meaningful legislation. This problem has gone on entirely too long! If they don’t fix it, no one else really can, and the citizens of this country will suffer greatly for their lack of due diligence.”
Most immigrants, Creech said, don’t come into the country “with nefarious motives.”
“Most are just trying to escape something — crime and poverty, and sometimes persecution,” he said. “Many just want the opportunity for something better in life. As Christians we should have compassion for these people. The Bible commands that we care for the poor person, the widow and the orphan. The Bible also frequently emphasizes the importance of welcoming strangers and treating foreigners with kindness. But because these people are unfortunate doesn’t mean we should just freely open our borders to them. What is more, they shouldn’t break the laws of our land. Instead, they should honor our laws.”