Categories: uncategorized
Date: 09 January 2008 12:48:27
One of the things that I've always found annoying about our country is the polarised views on immigration. This has always intrigued me as many of the socialist voters I know were also some of the most racist and insular. That's not to say that those of other parties aren't equally as bad. The some applies to many Christians as well.
Whenever you try to talk about racial policies you usually end up with one group screaming "Racist" at any argument made by those who do not share their view. It also leads the government of the day into proving that they are not only firmly against mass immigration but that they also stand for fairness and kindness to all. Our present government are just as inconsistent as those that have gone before.
Last week we heard that the Immigartion Service had issued instructions not to deport some foreign criminals at the end of their sentence, in contrivention of government promises, and to be lenient on students who have out stayed their visa entitlement.
Today there is a story on the BBC Wales website, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7178416.stm regarding the deportation of a Ghanian lady who has overstayed her student visa. She was collected at 08:00hrs this morning and was due to be flown out on a flight at 14:00hrs today.
Now I agree that we should enforce our immigration policy where people are here for purely for economic reasons, or have committed a serious offense while here, but we should do so with a certain degree of compassion and thought. We are supposed to be a country that has compassion for those in trouble, persecuted or serious need.
This is way this story grabbed my attention.
You see the lady concerned has terminal cancer and needs regular dialysis, whih she has been receiving for the past 12 months in Cardiff. To stand a chance of survival she would need a bone marrow transplant to survive. However, because she was here on a student visa, she is not entitled to free treatment from our healthcare system. That fair enough.
However the healthcare system in Ghana is privatised and she cannot afford to pay for treatment. In addition her home village is in the north of the country and only served by a clinic. To receive dialysis she'd need to go to the capital, Accra. Therefore we are deporting her secure in the knowledge that we are sentencing her to death.
Is this really the way that we want our government to operate? Is it her fault that she has contracted cancer while here? How is she responsible for the damage the illness caused to her kidneys?
We don't have an obligation to help her but would it not be a Christian thing to do? Then again are we really a Christian country in anything other than name?