Theology and Illegal Aliens

Theology and Illegal Aliens

By: Bill O'Reilly for BillOReilly.com
Thursday, Mar 02, 2006 http://billoreilly.com/index.jsp

As an American of Irish descent, Roman Catholicism has been in my family for hundreds of years. I respect the Church because I've seen first-hand the good that it can do. Worldwide, no organization does more for the poor and downtrodden than Catholic Charities.

Thus, it was no surprise when Roger Cardinal Mahony spoke from his pulpit in Los Angeles on Ash Wednesday and urged compassion for immigrants. Surely, people seeking a better life in the USA legally should get help from the Christian community. But the Cardinal's message turned out to include illegal immigrants as well, and then came the crusher: Cardinal Mahony said he will order his priests not to obey a proposed new federal law that cracks down on people aiding "undocumented aliens."

House Bill 4437, passed last December 16th, would make it a criminal offense to knowingly assist illegals in evading immigration laws. The proposed law also calls for a wall at the Mexican border, mandatory detention of illegals caught inside the USA, and a number of other tough enforcement provisions.

Cardinal Mahony opposes them all.

Instead, the Cardinal wants a "humane" approach to the illegal immigration problem and calls the tough measures "hysterical."

In a startling conversation with the LA Times, Mahony is quoted as saying that Al Qaeda operatives would not trek through the Arizona desert to infiltrate the USA and "the war on terror is not going to be won through immigration restrictions."

How the Cardinal arrived at these conclusions remains a mystery. I do believe, however, that thousands of Al Qaeda have trekked through arid areas in Afghanistan, Syria, Iran and Iraq. Somebody inform the Cardinal.

Mahony defiantly says that his priests are not going to become "immigration agents," but nobody is asking for that. The intent of the law is to eliminate so-called "sanctuary" policies whereby Americans shelter and generally provide for illegal aliens while helping them avoid detection.

As a Cardinal of the Catholic Church, Mahony's job description is to act as an "emissary" of Christ. So the question becomes, "What would Jesus do?"

It is hard to believe that Jesus would ask the nationality of anyone before giving the person food and drink, or tending to them if they were injured. But if you follow the "render to Caesar" parable, Jesus might not be fine with setting up an underground railroad that violates a nation's right to regulate who enters its territory.

Maybe I'm wrong here, but it seems absolutely lawful and logical for any country to want to know who is living within its borders. Is border control a human rights violation? What say you, Cardinal Mahony?

It is somewhat unfair to bring this up, but I must, in the interest of full disclosure. Cardinal Mahony was not proactive in protecting children from predator priests in his diocese. In fact, many believe Mahony is a villain in the matter, stonewalling authorities and not holding some criminal priests accountable.

There is no common ground between the issues of predator priests and illegal aliens, except respect for the law. Urging his priests to violate a proposed new federal immigration law, after handling the priest scandal poorly, puts Cardinal Mahony in a tough spot both morally and legally.

Back in the Vietnam War days, a number of priests violated the law by participating in illegal protests. Some of them spent time in prison for doing so. Will that happen to Cardinal Mahony if the new immigration law passes and he defies it?

Only God knows.

Doesn't compassion work best on a personal or local level? Perhaps those that feel so compassionate toward ILLEGAL immigrants should go to the heart of the problem, literally. So to all those that wish to compromise our laws and security, pack your bags and go to the source of the problem. Move to the suppressed economies of the nations that are flooding our borders with their citizens. Set up camp, improve their local politics, economy and if still they want to come to America, then help them get a legal visa to enter.

The average person, I hope, would be compassionate toward a person in need, perhaps offer some help, say offer a place to stay while a traveler is having their car worked on. You met this person at the local shop, talked to them and developed some level of basic trust.

When you wake up the next morning this person thanks you and is on their way, you feel good. Then you turn around and notice 1,000 strangers camped out in you're yard, one comes up to you and says "We heard you put up strangers and by the way can you clean out the bird bath I gotta go real bad, got any food?" ....HMMM now how do you feel, compassionate or overwhelmed, or taken advantage of?

Peace torog!:thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by midlifecrisis

Doesn't compassion work best on a personal or local level? Perhaps those that feel so compassionate toward ILLEGAL immigrants should go to the heart of the problem, literally. So to all those that wish to compromise our laws and security, pack your bags and go to the source of the problem. Move to the suppressed economies of the nations that are flooding our borders with their citizens. Set up camp, improve their local politics, economy and if still they want to come to America, then help them get a legal visa to enter.

The average person, I hope, would be compassionate toward a person in need, perhaps offer some help, say offer a place to stay while a traveler is having their car worked on. You met this person at the local shop, talked to them and developed some level of basic trust.

When you wake up the next morning this person thanks you and is on their way, you feel good. Then you turn around and notice 1,000 strangers camped out in you're yard, one comes up to you and says "We heard you put up strangers and by the way can you clean out the bird bath I gotta go real bad, got any food?" ....HMMM now how do you feel, compassionate or overwhelmed, or taken advantage of?

Peace torog!:thumbsup:

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Howdy midlifecrisis,

Your reply was so good,it beared qouting :thumbsup:

Just the other day,I sent faxes out to my senate and congressional reps,advising against granting amnesty for all illegal immigrants in America,yup-there's pending legislation to do just that.

I can only hope and pray,that Bush gits embarrassed time and again,over this issue,because he sure as heck ain't got a handle on it-I tell you what !:mad:

I'm all for legal immigrants,especially the ones who really do appreciate the freedoms here,that they didn't have in their home country. Many Americans take their freedom for granted and have grown apathetic about it. Until and unless one,leaves this country and experiences how life is in other countries that don't have our freedoms,I don't think that one can truly appreciate what we already have here. When I went to Saudi to drill water wells,I got a taste of sharia law and wahhabism up close-and it sucked ! It gave me a whole nother perspective on America and the many freedoms that we take for granted.

Have a good one ! :stoned:

The two biggest impingements to controlling illegal immigration from the south (and lets face it, that's where most of it comes from) are the fact that no one is addressing the issue of cracking down on the companies and or businesses that hire them, including increased fines and if necessary, asset forfeture and or prison time for all of the human rights violations they are guilty of, (like having underage workers in the fields while they are cropdusting) not to mention the damage it does to the wages of legal workers, you and me included, who want to make more than $5.00 a day, combined with the fact that no one even addresses this aspect of the issue, including that flaming leprechaun O'Reilly, congress or state legislatures. This is, of course due to the fact that this "secrecy" is bought and paid for by the contributions to various campaigns, PAC, politicians etc. The other main problem is that the administration, (the last several in fact) have not had the balls to crack down on mexico and pressure them to deal with their own problems and people as opposed to mexico's current stance on illegal immigration which would appear to be..yes, go, here's a map and a bus and some food.

This is the single most blaring example of the fact that the feds do not give a flying whip about homeland security but only are concerned with the sound bites, the politics and of course, the money and no bid contracts and the new bureaucracies that have been created to address homeland security but have not really addressed the problem. I firmly believe the only reason we have not had another 9/11 is because no one has tried or bothered. I firmly believe nothing that the feds have told us in the last 50 years or so.

I have little tolerance for illegal immigrants. Probably because my wife was a legal immigrant and I've lived though the process of dealing with the INS. Something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. So, it really pisses me off when someone who snuck in illegally starts getting all kinds of perks and wants something like a driver's license.

That being said, we really do need some kind of legal migrant worker exchange program with Mexico. A lot of these illegal immigrants work their asses off doing shit jobs that no one else would want and they do it for a lot less than any American would. Are they taking jobs away from Americans? Maybe, but do you really want to pay $20 lb. for strawberries?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fengzi

I have little tolerance for illegal immigrants. Probably because my wife was a legal immigrant and I've lived though the process of dealing with the INS. Something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. So, it really pisses me off when someone who snuck in illegally starts getting all kinds of perks and wants something like a driver's license.

That being said, we really do need some kind of legal migrant worker exchange program with Mexico. A lot of these illegal immigrants work their asses off doing shit jobs that no one else would want and they do it for a lot less than any American would. Are they taking jobs away from Americans? Maybe, but do you really want to pay $20 lb. for strawberries?

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First, It is unlikely that eliminating the illegal workforce would drive the price of strawberries up to $20 lb. since the market would probably not bear that price.

Second, your right, americans will not work for the slave wages and unbearable working conditions that illegal workers will put up with. That does not mean they will not do those jobs at all, just not for the piddly wages. I agree that most of the legal immigrants I have worked with in the past have a dynamite work ethic. I'm sure the illegal ones do to but that does not make it right nor does it make it right to blatantly violate the law and hire them in the first place just so your profits will go up.

Third, it drives down wages for everybody, not just the farm workers and as long as it's tolerated in any way, it will keep spreading through all industries, not just the food industry.

And kudos to you and your wife for doing things legally. The INS should spend more time dealing with illegals than picking on easy targets like your wife to boost their numbers.

I've worked for the Denver Public Schools.
According to several sources- of the 60,000 students enrolled app. 3,000-5,000 are illegals !!!!!!!!!!!!
what kills me is many return to Mexico during Xmas for a month, while living in public housing; and the pressure it puts on the students who are citizens. Alot of money goes to train people to educate these students
The U.S. has had two mass deportations in the last one hundred years,
give the criminals one month to get out and then start mass round-ups and then bill the Mexico gov't!!!