Exclusionary Permits — What to Do?

Here is a good rubber-meets-the-road issue for faith-and-policy wonks like myself. I learned recently that the sleepy little town in which I live is considering an ordinance that would require a regular inspection of every residence in town by the Building Inspector. Currently, inspections are only made after the completion of new construction under a building permit. The ostensible reason for the new ordinance is that there has been a flurry of off-permit do-it-yourself home improvement lately that has slipped through the inspection net. The real reason may be less sanguine.

It seems that there are a few areas in town where single family residences are being occupied by multiple families of Mexican immigrants. This violates the building code. There also are claims that these families are in the U.S. without proper visas. An across-the-board home inspection requirement would provide a facially race-neutral reason for entering these homes and evicting the families.

So what is a Christian response to this policy? There are some practical reasons for the limits on single-family home occupancy. Property taxes, which pay for public services including police, fire, and public schooling, are based on assumptions about the number of people living in a typical home. A few homes containing five or six families under one roof throws those assumptions out of balance. Also, the multiple residency creates fire and other health hazards. And, though we can argue about the morality of our current immigration laws, perhaps we don’t want to enable open disobedience of them.

And yet, in the context of my conservative little town, I can’t help but feel that there is some evil racial and class prejudice behind this policy. It is hitting me very hard that these families are the “least of these,” the Samaritans, the “others” for whom Jesus always displayed particular concern, and that the town is taking the role of the self-righteous person who would leave a man dying by the side of the road. Maybe these “illegal” immigrants aren’t completely innocent, but neither was the woman by the well, or the adulteress about to be stoned.

So what should I do? What should the Church do? I have a few ideas. I need to have lunch with a friend on the Town Council and share my thoughts about the ordinance with him. Maybe I need to appear at the public hearing on the ordinance if there is one. Maybe there is something I can write for the local paper. I need to network in my church to see if we have any outreach to families like these. I need to pray. Perhaps this little seed will be the start of a work God will do in our town. Most of all, I need the courage to break through the fog and inertia, to use my legal training and experience to do something good.