DEPORTED!

How Sue's Deportation Affected Our Views
About the Current Immigration Crisis 

 

Shortly after our marriage in Dallas, TX in 1976, we were surprised when American immigration officials informed my wife, Susan, who is Canadian, that she would have to return to her home country. She was deported.

Being naïve about immigration laws, I had assumed that being married to an American citizen would make it an easy and simple matter for her to obtain permanent resident status. We were both surprised when she was told she would have to return to Canada and apply for permanent residence through the American consulate in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

This totally disrupted our plans to live in Texas, but we did not complain or protest. We adjusted our plans and decided we would go to Canada for the summer and while Sue was getting her green card processed, I would work.  But as Gomer Pyle would say, “Surprise! Surprise!” We drove to Canada only to discover that Canada also had immigration laws.

They would not allow me to work without applying for permanent residence. So, I applied for permanent residence in Canada. This was challenging to my faith for I had never felt a call to Canada nor ever experienced any desire to live there.

The situation was exacerbated when Canadian officials informed me that because of custom regulations and tariffs, I could only keep my car in Canada for three weeks. So, I drove across the border and sold my Dodge R/T for much less than it was worth and asked my new mother-in-law to drive across the border and pick me up. These immigration laws were really disrupting our lives.

Did we complain? Did we protest? No! It did not even cross our minds to complain or protest. We had both been raised that a part of our Christian testimony is to be law-abiding citizens. Peter wrote of this to first-century believers and exhorted them,

Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by Him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good (I Peter 2:13-14).

 Of course, when human laws contradict God’s laws, we are not to submit to such laws, as we clearly see in passages such as Acts 5:29. We, however, had no biblical or common sense reason for not believing that the immigration laws we were encountering had been put in place for the good of  both American and Canadian citizens .

Although our lives were disrupted, our faith in God told us that God was at work behind the scenes and this proved to true. Our time in Canada proved to be a very significant time for us and many others.

We were in Canada for eight years and during this time we planted a new congregation, a Christian academy, and a Bible school. We also began our overseas travels with ministry outreaches to India and Africa. Sue’s father, two brothers, and many others came to Christ during this time.

Sue received her green card and we returned to the U.S. in 1984 and have been busy for the past 40 years teaching, writing books, creating teaching materials, and travelling to many nations with the Good News of His plan for all mankind (Psalm 67:1-2).. We live in Grapevine, TX and believe that our best and most fruitful years are still ahead.

Out of our experience with deportation and after traveling to many nations, I am now convinced that America's immigration laws are neither oppressive or unfair. It is for this reason that I have no empathy for people who are openly flouting immigration laws whether in América, Canada, Mexico, or any country.

Nations need secure borders for the same reason our homes need secure locks on our windows and doors. We live in a world that is filled with evil and if your home is not secure, someone will take advantage of your neglect and cause you harm. The same is true of nations and their borders.

Yes, I have compassion for those vulnerable people, many of them children, who have been exploited by drug cartels and coyotes. But the open defiance of immigration laws should not be tolerated. The Bible exhorts us to have compassion on the poor and needy, but also strongly condemns lawlessness.

This is why a blanket amnesty must never be issued to illegals. This would only affirm them in their lawlessness and be a slap in the face to the many thousands who are patiently waiting in line to come in legally, but now those who came in illegally are moved to the front of the line. 

In Revelation 21 John saw a vision of the heavenly city--the New Jerusalem. It had wall and gates and in vs. 27 he says, But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those written in the Lamb's Book of Life. If this heavenly city has walls to regulate who can and cannot enter, how much more our earthly cities and nations.

Drs. Eddie and Sue Hyatt live in Grapevine, TX where they carry on a ministry of writing, teaching, and preaching. Their many books are available from Amazon and their websites at http://www.eddiehyatt.com and http://www.godsordtowomen.org.