By Jennifer Taylor
Last week, a Canton, OH-area newspaper reported the story of a Cincinnati teen and the local pastors championing his cause. The student, Bernard Pastor, was brought to the United States as a 3-year-old and taken into custody last month as an undocumented immigrant.
Greg Nettle, senior pastor at RiverTree Christian Church (Massillon, OH) and Troy Jackson, senior pastor at University Christian Church (Cincinnati, OH) are among the leaders calling for the passage of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act.
“At the heart of all of this, we’re talking about caring for children,” Nettle says. “My hunch is, regardless of our faith backgrounds, we want to treat others the way we’d want to be treated. My son, Elijah, is 3, the same age as Bernard (was). My son will grow enjoying all the hopes and dreams our amazing country offers to him; the same thing Bernard’s grown up with. I can’t imagine my son at 18 having all that ripped away from him. That’s exactly what Bernard is having done to him, through no decision of his own. He’s being punished for a crime to which he did not consent. I believe that is not justice but is tantamount to abuse.”
Read the story here.
The “abuse” occurred when some parents included their young child in a crime and now the chickens come home to roost. I feel for the young man. However, we cannot allow ILLEGAL (there are established laws being broken here) visitors to our country to come with the understanding that their children will get a pass. Why can’t we all just obey/enforce the law?
The 6/17/12 Christian Standard article by Troy Jackson “Liberty & Love” is eye-opening. I wish everyone in the world could and would read it. I don’t find it on this Christian Standard web site, but it’s available in print copies. Bernard Pastor did not break any law when he was brought to the U.S.A. He has done well and has hopes of continuing to do well in the U.S.A. I feel he should be welcomed as a new citizen. Our laws limit who can come here for sanctuary. I feel the laws should be changed! I don’t support Obama in any way. Yet he’s right that young people who were brought here and have lived here and done well should be accepted if they want to become citizens! I quote for your consideration a brief excerpt from the article which follows that of Troy Nelson in the 6/17/12 issue: “An undocumented family–a young son, his mom, along with his step-father–fled the violence of a military regime and entered the relative safety of a neighboring country. That boy grew up to become our Lord and Savior. These persecuted immigrants have a way of always looking for a place of refuge. Woe to us if we do not provide that place and expect them to succeed” (The Other Side of the Fence, by Fernando Soto-Dupuy). Shouldn’t we HELP them to succeed?