Is it a virtue to harbor newcomers at the expense of those already under our care?

As our state is flooded with alleged asylum seekers, there are many welcoming voices that are quick to offer help, albeit not out of their own pocket, but at the taxpayer’s expense.

Before the arrival of the first migrant bus to Kane County, Corinne Pierog, current County Board Chair, was already attempting to pave the way to make our county a destination for the new wave of alleged asylum seekers. Some of the proposals she has espoused include building low income housing for workers (job creation for her union supporters?), spending millions of dollars on a new county building (November 2023), allowing work permits to be granted to non-citizens within one month (instead of the current six month waiting period) , and the list goes on.

The rhetoric of those welcoming the newest influx of immigrants oozes with benevolence, until you ask immigrants who’ve been living and working in Illinois for ten to twenty years, and are still undocumented. Some undocumented Mexicans living in Kane County report that they have lost their job to the newcomers, who have been given legal status ahead of them. Others resent the vandalism from the worst representatives of the new wave, witnessed at their workplace in an Aurora mall.

In general, the strategy of welcoming the new kid on the block while discarding the old, is reminiscent of Aesop’s fable of the Goatherd and the Wild Goats, which we might do well to read in this Land of Lincoln, a man who is said to have grown up with only two books available to read: Aesop’s Fables and the Bible.

One cold stormy day a Goatherd drove his Goats for shelter into a cave, where a number of Wild Goats had also found their way. The Shepherd wanted to make the Wild Goats part of his flock; so he fed them well. But to his own flock, he gave only just enough food to keep them alive. When the weather cleared, and the Shepherd led the Goats out to feed, the Wild Goats scampered off to the hills.

“Is that the thanks I get for feeding you and treating you so well?” complained the Shepherd.

“Do not expect us to join your flock,” replied one of the Wild Goats. “We know how you would treat us later on, if some strangers should come as we did.”

Moral

It is unwise to treat old friends badly for the sake of new ones.

You might notice that the goatherd had his own agenda in mind, when feeding the wild goats. It doesn’t say that he felt sorry for their need, but that he wanted to make them part of his flock. Yet, in spite of the royal treatment they received, they saw through his ploy and ran away.

Unlike the irresponsible goatherd, it is the duty of our leaders to first take good care for those citizens and residents of the county who are already within their charge, instead of pretending that it is within their authority to make additions to the flock.