Dave, I don’t think the rest of the world has “idiotic imm1igration policies.” Many countries have compassion on the multitudes that can no longer live in their own countries because of persecution or of unjust laws that make it impossible for them to live a normal life in those countries. But it just so happens that some unscrupulous persons take advantage of these compassionate countries and immigrate to them in order to wreak havoc. Countries are morally right to take the risk of their being such unsavoury characters among the multitudes who need a decent, democratic country in which to live.
Let me give you a personal example. After the North Vietnamese (Communists) overtook South Vietnam, they persecuted educated people. Many of those people escaped in boats or ships to other countries. My own family and the families of two of my nephews, formed “The Refugee Assistance Group” and sponsored a Vietnamese man and his wife, and three sons. We arranged to buy a trailer and set it up on a part of my property (160 acres).
We picked them up in Kenora, and thought that if we took them to a Chinese restaurant, they might get food similar to what they were used to eating. But they hardly touched the food, because they thought it would be an economic hardship for us. Once I found the husband, Van (pronounced "Vaang) , in a clearing near the trailer with four stakes in the ground on which a cloth had been stretched, and on which potatoes had been cut up in the shape of French fries, and were placed on the cloth. I asked the man what he was doing. He replied, “I’m drying these French fries in the sun.” I said, “Why not just put them in a frying pan with oil and cook them?” His answer: “Save electricity.”
They had brought some tubes toothpaste with them. His sons held the tubes straight up and lightly moved the heads of their toothbrushes across the opening to the tubes so as not to make it last by using as little as possible.
Van, the husband had been an electro-chemical engineer in Viet Nam,and his wife had been a pharmacist. I tried to get Van a job at the paper mill in Fort Frances, but they wouldn’t hire him. So he managed to get a job with a local farmer, but it was very hard on him. Because of his slight frame and structure, he came home very tired every evening.
Their religion was Confucian. I asked him how a Confucian practises his religion. He said, “We look at pictures of our ancestors, and feel thankful that they have given us birth.”
When he found out that we attend a Christian church, he wanted to come. On their journey to Vietnam, the family and other families who were on the boat with them, were robbed by a crew of Thailand pirates. A second group of pirates came on board later; there was nothing left to steal, so they gave the Vietnamese people some fish. However, they were angry at being robbed,and wouldn’t eat it. Later, they stopped at a large island country where they were told to get back into their boat and move on. They tried pushing it back into the water (not very hard) and said, “It seems to be stuck.”
“All right!” said the officials, “We will make a border around this little area. Anyone who steps outside this border will be shot!” After they started to get hungry, they went back to the boat and took out the fish (which was then in a stage of being unfit for consumption), cooked it up and ate it.
Later, a Catholic woman and her daughter discovered them, and brought them food and reading materials. This kind act resulted in Van having a positive view of Christianity. So when he found out were were attending a Christian church, he and his family were happy to attend it, too.
Their children attended the local school and were at the top of their class.
He said that what was done in the meetings made him feel good. I managed to get a Bible for him in the Chinese language (He was able to read that fluently). “Yes,” he said, "First I will read the Christian’s Holy Book before I decide to become a Christian.
A day or so later, he said to me, "I have been reading the Christian Holy Book, and have a question. Whose son was Jesus anyway? Genealogy is very important to a Confucian, and so he had started to read the genealogy in Matthew 1.
Later, Van’s wife was getting letters from Vancouver, in which they were urged to move out there where there would be greater opportunity. Sometimes, I heard Van and his wife arguing in Vietnamese rather frequently. She wanted to move to Vancouver; he didn’t. But finally she convinced him. Then he told me, “I tried to get a job here, but I fail. We will be moving to Vancouver.” I had loved the family so much, that I wept.