An Immigrant Parable

  

An Immigration Parable

 

I got some land that's been in my family for awhile. I bought some, and some was inherited. (Some was stolen a long time ago, but those issues were long since settled. That's not part of the story) I fenced some pasture and enclosed the outbuildings, but after I experienced some vandalism and theft, I fenced some more of it. I invested in infrastructure (barn, conveyor, tractor, stalls, corral, water well, etc. ).

I was raised on this land, as were my children and now we are raising grandkids. Life is good.  MOST of just want to be left alone to raise our families, take care of what’s ours, save a little if we can (But we can’t because the cost of seed and fuel, and even a trip to the doctor is so blamed expensive that we can’t go unless a bone is sticking out.) Our kids go to school, we know most of our neighbors from church. We help each other when we can and do right by each other-respecting each other’s property, respecting our elders, respect the law and do what we think the Bible instructs us do.  Those that do differently, they pretty much leave us alone, and we pretty much leave them alone.

Lately, there have some people (not from these parts) who are staying on my land without permission. I got quite a bit of land so I don't see 'em much and I usually can't catch 'em anyway. But, it's my land, and when I can, I report them to the sheriff. For different reasons, he is no help at all. If I try to take matters into my own hands, I'M the one who gets in trouble for it! (We're still working on that!)

Some of the people from elsewhere in the county, and a few from the next county over, give these trespasser money (and KEEP giving ‘em money), so they (the trespassers) usually have some pocket jingle and not much incentive to stay away. I think that only makes the problem worse. Some of those with a will to work come around from time to time to help with some of chores and I don’t mind that, if they are polite, and respectful. But the sheriff says I can’t hire them for real because Congress passed a law against it. I don't get that because I should be the one who decides who can, and who can't be on my property. Anyway, they all got money from somewhere.

The problem is, it isn’t just a few, like it was at first.  Now I’m seeing family members (I guess-I don’t really know WHO they are) and now my land and my operation is feeling a squeeze. Grass is being trampled, firewood is being cut down, fences are broken down, trash is left around, gates are being left open, and I heard in a town meeting that I could personally be held liable if they get injured on MY property, EVEN if it is posted, NO TRESSPASSING.  There is NO respect for other people rights or property. What’s this country coming too?

I even heard at a town meeting once, some of the townfolks tried to say that EVERYBODY in the whole county owed a duty to take care of the trespassers. That doesn't make any sense either, and sure didn’t make a lot of others very happy.  We're working on THAT one too.

We tried to get the sheriff to force those people out of county and off of our but he wouldn’t/couldn’t do anything so a bunch of us went up to the capital and petitioned the governor to send the state police to come down here and make something happen.  It turns out that there are laws (even though the sheriff said they weren't HIS laws) and the governor said he COULD do something about it.

Well, they came down pretty quickly and things were started to move along but then a bunch of college kids from the capital came down protesting because the people trespassing on my land were being “treated unfairly”. (We pretty much told 'em that since they weren't even supposed to BE here, if they didn't like how they were being treated on MY land, the smart thing to do would be shuffle off wherever they last WAS!  That made the college kids mad!)  Then the Methodists got with the Episcopalians in the next county and starting chanting and parading with signs saying if we didn’t let them stay on our land, that we were not Christians and that we didn’t understand what the Bible says on the subject. (I looked in my Bible and couldn’t find it, but when I asked one of them, they couldn’t find it either. I think they just say stuff because it sounds like what THEY would do if they were in charge instead of Jesus.)

Then those college kids went from protesting, to fighting the state police (with guns, explosive and Molotov cocktails) and the next thing you know the news reporters were here, stirring things up some more. NONE Of this sounds like the exercise of wisdom and restraint, to me.

It’s not over yet, but here’ what I know. We have laws that have stood the test of time, as they are rooted in solid principles upon which is built our system of government. Kids (of any age) with little to no life experience, little to no education in philosophy, economics, history (especially history) are never going to garner much respect or credibility with the folks who own the land, the farms, and the businesses, and upon whom is shouldered the weight of a free country.  No one has ANY right but from God, that they themselves have not procured for themselves nor has been paid by the blood of their fathers.   Any protest by the illiterate, the profane, the evil, or the self-righteous, will not attract much attention, nor achieve lasting results with noisy theatrics, as they will never be taken serious by any rational person who walks in wisdom, and the means to defend themselves. All we ask of government is to NOT get in the way of Truth, Justice, and the American way as we protect that which is ours, from those that would take it.
John Sterling 2/13/2026

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