Dear Senator Hatch, What Would President Monson Do?

Dear Senator Hatch,

As a resident of Utah, this is an open letter to you as my representative in the U.S. Senate. As a descendant of immigrants and a fellow Latter-day Saint, I am continually dismayed at the anti-immigrant, anti-human agenda of our current administration. I have been extremely disappointed in your personal partisan response up to this point regarding the current presidential policies. Therefore, I am making a personal plea for you to “awake and arise“, and take a stand for what is good and right not based on politics, but as a human being and a son of God.

I join with millions of Americans who are horrified that 2,500 Nicaraguan immigrants have lost their Temporary Protected Status (TPS) now facing deportation, that nearly 300,000 other TPS recipients from Honduras, El Salvador, and Haiti are in danger of losing their protection and receiving deportation, and also our nation’s Dreamers are still experiencing panic and fear wondering if they will be protected by the only home they have loved and known.

Our nation is in crises. We are seeing inhumane, racist, bigoted, anti-immigrant policies which do not represent who we are and what we believe in as Americans, nor as what we believe in as Utahns. These policies certainly do not represent our Latter-day Saint refugee heritage, nor the core of our religion to “lift up the hands that hang down” and extend compassion and help to all, for  “Charity never faileth.”

This weekend you and I will honor the life of our dear prophet President Thomas S. Monson (1927-2018) – a man who spent all nine decades of his life following in our Savior’s footsteps, caring for others on a daily basis, and teaching us to do the same.

And so, I ask you,

What would President Monson do for the TPS recipients, immigrants and Dreamer families of America?

“Never let a problem to be solved, become more important than a person to be loved.”

– Thomas S. Monson

What would our Savior Jesus Christ do for the TPS recipients, immigrant families and Dreamers of America?

“For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
“… Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

– Jesus Christ

The answer is very clear – LOVE THEM. Take them in. Care for them. PROTECT THEM! “Do unto them” as you would want them to do if you were in their desperate shoes.

I am asking you today to please honor the example and legacy of President Monson – a man who you and I have personally raised our hands and sustained as Christ’s prophet, seer and revelator on earth for the past ten years – by following the mandate of our Savior which he taught all of his life, by using your voice and your vote and every ounce of power of leadership that you have been entrusted with on this earth at this time to ensure that we will “love our neighbor” as national policy, that we will defend the defenseless, and that we will protect those among us who are most in need of our protection.

 

Please do not turn your back on these children of our Heavenly Father. They each have names and stories, hopes and dreams and so much to give. They each desperately need our help.

I have raised my voice and used my vote as often as I possibly know how for them. However, now they require your voice and your vote.

 

Their futures –  their very lives and the lives of their innocent children – are literally in your hands along with the hands of other leaders who serve within your circle of influence. Our future as America – as a beacon of freedom and refuge to all nations – is in your hands.

We are the Lord’s hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and to lift His children. He is dependent upon each of us.”

  – Thomas S. Monson

I write this open letter to you, Senator Hatch, with the greatest prayer of hope that you will stand up and do the right thing right now. Do not discard these dear neighbors. Do not allow these souls who are contributing members of our society to be cast out. Do not think that you can turn your back on these – our brothers and sisters – and not be held accountable by our Father in Heaven.

We, the People, are watching and depending on you. President Monson and our leaders past and present are watching and depending on you. God in heaven is watching and depending on you.

More than ever before, this is your time to serve a much higher cause than partisan politics and meaningless dogma. This is your time to please “arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations.”

Thank you,

Holly A.
Farmington, Utah