On spam filters

I maintain a web-based e-mail address exclusively for our congregation’s website and SermonAudio page in order to protect my main e-mail address from spammers. And in fact, most of what comes to that first address is spam, generated by programs that troll the webernet for e-mail addresses. Accordingly, I set the spam filters pretty high. However, of late I’ve noticed that some legitimate e-mails have been consigned to the spam folder, which has made me wonder whether others haven’t been allowed to make even that cut. Consequently, I’ve had to step down the spam filters a bit so I can still be contacted through our congregation’s websites.

I bring this up because I have a number of friends who are strongly against illegal immigration, but separate that issue from legal immigration. In fact, many believe the federal government should remove the barriers immigrants face to get permanent visas to they can work in the United States. Unfortunately, the two issues cannot be so easily separated.

Illegal immigration is not simply a matter of people coming up through the U.S.-Mexico border without visas. As I understand it, the majority of illegal immigrants in the U.S. entered the country by other means, such as with illegitimate paperwork or by overstaying tourist visas. In order to prevent these forms of illegal immigration, the government must require those applying for visas to prove they have income or legitimate employment or will not bring over their families but return to their home country after they’ve completed their studies.

That is, the policy goal of clamping down on illegal immigration inevitably leads to turning away citizens of other nations whose intentions are entirely pure and are attempting to stay in our country legally. If we want people to be able to immigrate to the United States more easily, we will have to accept a certain level of illegal immigration.