Transporting Illegal Aliens

by Scottiebear7 2 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Scottiebear7

  Hi guys,

  I wanted to get your take on this:

  One night, I was sitting home watching TV while my wife and stepdaughter were at their Thursday KM meeting, when I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. Mind you, I'm not a witness, never was, certainly never will be. When I answered the phone the person on the other end, a male, started speaking spanish. The only word I could recognize was my wife's name. I basically told them she wasn't home, she was at a meeting. Hmmmmmm... of course is going through my head. I knew my wife had been studying and going out in service with a woman from Venezuela, who had rapidly become my wife's new best friend... and that my wife was fervently learning to speak Spanish since meeting her.

  When she and my step-daughter got home I told my wife that some guy speaking spanish had called, but I couldn't understand him. "Oh, that was Ysidro" (sp?). She then told me how she and her friend had been doing bible studies with Illegal Aliens that were at the local farms (we live in Central NY, farm country), and that he must want her to pick up a phone card for him so he can call his family in Mexico. I was a bit upset... this had been kept a secret from me for several months that my wife was doing bible studies with illegal aliens from Mexico, all men of course.

  Next came making meals for these guys. Then came her asking me to donate my old jeans and such for them. Of which, I was torn over. I always feel a need to help people, but I had a feeling that this was against the law. But, I gave in, and we gave them food and clothing, because they had hardly anything. Their employer was a dirt-bag who hadn't paid them in two months, so the guys were starving.

  Then, my wife and her friend started driving the guys to the Kingdom Hall, about 25 miles from the farm they worked at. This is where I drew the line. I looked up what the legality was, and found there is a federal law against "transporting" illegal aliens, and also for making it possible for illegal aliens to remain here in the US. I showed her the law, upon which I was promptly told that "she was following God's law".

  The dissolution of my marriage has promptly followed, and we are now legally separated (yet another topic which I won't get into here). I honestly feel bad for my wife, because she is so brainwashed into the WBTS. I know that if she goes through a road-block (which they have often around here), she will most likely be arrested, and her "studies" deported. Ugh. To say I abhor the WBTS and all their control, that is a true understatement.

  Anyhow, any thoughts on this guys?
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  B_Deserter

  I don't know how it is where you live, but where I'm from (West Michigan) JWs generally don't allow their members to conduct bible studies with the opposite sex. Usually after the initial few calls, the study is "handed over" to someone of the appropriate gender. Women study with women, men with men. Being alone with them in the car is another red flag, as in my experience without having at least one JW male in the car with them knowledge of this would result in MAJOR scandal in the Kingdom Hall. In fact, simply being alone with a worldly person of the opposite sex has been grounds for disfellowshipping, especially if it happened more than once.

  But I know what you mean. JWs tend to thumb their noses at immigration laws on a fairly regular basis. In fact I know a former roommate who harbored an illegal "brother" for quite a long time. They quite literally think the laws do not apply to them, because they're God's special people. I've also noticed a tendency organization-wide that lets Hispanic Witnesses get away with things no other JW could get away with. Back in the 70's when Malawian brothers were being killed and tortured for not buying a 50 cent party card, the Mexican Witnesses were allowed to bribe officials to sign off on falsified military service records (army service is compulsory in Mexico), and here in the US the JWs faced jail time for refusing the draft. Everybody else has to "make a stand" for the faith, but if you live in Mexico you seem to be exempt from having to do so. I'm not saying this to be racist, but when I was in the organization I definitely got this vibe of "Mexican JWs can do whatever the hell they want."
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  Scottiebear7

  You're right B_Deserter... my after the first few bible studies, my wife and her friend would bring a male member of their KH to come and sit with them while conducting the study. They were bored as hell because they could not understand Spanish one bit.

  Though I questioned what happened when she would drive 10 miles east to pick the immigrants up, then another 25 miles West to take them to the KH, and then all back again, I never really got a straight answer (I'm sure that comes as no suprise). My impression was that my wife's friend's son was also in the car (he's 18). I do know they made side trips to Walmart so that the guys could shop also.

  My belief is that the rules were "bent" in this case because my wife and her friend were the only ones who could speak spanish. I kept asking when a "brother" was going to take over the studies, and kept getting told they couldn't find one to do so. That there was such a big "need" that they couldn't pass up this opportunity.

  It was amazing the amount of names that were being passed on to my wife for possible spanish bible studies. I know she felt overwhelmed, and at the same time she stopped cooking, very little cleaning, laundry put off, etc.. I tried to help out on the weekends and then got criticized for helping out... but at the same time I needed clothes for work for the week, shirts ironed, etc., and didn't see it getting done by her.

  I guess the bottom line is that marriage is secondary when it comes to proselytizing, especially when you're married to a "worldly" man like me. Hence, I put up with it for about a year, and after five years of marriage I moved out. In good conscience, I could not support the WBTS anymore, even if I was doing so in a secondary nature since I was paying all the bills and providing her a headquarters for her service work... with no benefit being directed back towards me.

  Thanks for letting me vent!