Over the past week various people from around the archdiocese have asked for help in reflecting on Arizona’s new immigration law. As readers will know, I’ve used this space many times in the past to urge sensible, national immigration reform. Citizens of this country have a right to their safety and the solvency of their public institutions. But we undermine those very goals if we ignore the basic human rights of immigrant workers and their families.
In the case of Arizona state law, Catholics should listen first to the leaders of the Arizona Catholic community, for obvious reasons. They know the situation there best. Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson and Bishop James Wall of Gallup, N.M. (whose diocese includes portions of Arizona) are all excellent pastors. Their leadership in the coming weeks and months should set the tone for our own response.
Having said that, it’s worth making a few simple observations:
First, illegal immigration is wrong and dangerous for everyone involved….
Second, the new Arizona law, despite its flaws, does unintentionally accomplish one good thing. Thanks to Arizona, the urgency of immigration reform and the human issues that underlie it””deported breadwinners; divided families; the anxiety of children who grew up here but do not have citizenship””once again have moved to the front burner of our national discussions. Our current immigration system is now obviously broken. Congress needs to act….
The problem, Your Grace, is that you and the bishops of my state see this law as a pastoral issue. It is not.
The church’s role in this issue is simple: encouraged people to obey the law. The Arizona law simply allows law enforcement officers in this state to insure people are here legally and check for identification without racial profiling and only if a person in Arizona is involved with violating one of our laws. That’s it. Sadly, the church has bought into the zeitgeist of politically motivated people who see law enforcement of this issue as another opportunity for race baiting.
The Church’s role is to provide ministry to everyone involved, to include illegal immigrants. Provide them sacraments (especially confession, since they have broken the law) and encourage them to comply with the law. This is truly a pastoral response that is needed.
-Jim+
This law simply makes a state law out of a federal law and allows state officers to enforce that law. The state law neither adds nor subtracts from the federal law; it copies it.
As is usual with progressives terms are thrown around without definition. Just what do they mean by “immigration reform”? Strengthening of our immigration to drive all illegals from US soil or open borders? Some truth in advertising would be appreciated.
Look, my father’s wife and my friend’s wife are both immigrants. They are both from the Philipines. They are both married to US citizens. They are both here lawfully. They both have their documents. They are both WORKING to become US citizens.
Why should these two ladies take a back seat to some citizen from Mexico that wanders across our border, steals a social security number, takes a job from a US citizen, fails to file an income tax return, uses the local ER for free medical care, puts their kids in our schools for a free education, demands everything be multi-lingual, and carries a MEXICAN FLAG in protest marches in the UNITED STATES of AMERICA as s/he protests against our demands that s/he enter the country legally?!?
WHY?!?
BUILD THE FENCE!!! Then and only then do I want to hear [i]anything[/i] about “immigration reform”!
Br. Michael wrote:
[blockquote]This law simply makes a state law out of a federal law and allows state officers to enforce that law. The state law neither adds nor subtracts from the federal law; it copies it.[/blockquote]
This is correct. A close friend opines that maybe the local constabulary had been looking the other way too often…as in the assertion on our local news the other night that in Arizona people in possession of <$500 worth of drugs were effectively ignored by some authorities...and that the new law was a way to make the local sheriff/police pay more attention to their jobs. Just sayin'.
I am not fully conversant with the opinions of all of the US Catholic Bishops, and I think some recent comments from the President of the USCCB, Cardinal George, are in part, [i]over the top[/i] in their rhetoric. That said, my understanding is that the sort of “[i][b]sensible[/b][/i]” immigration reform Archbishop Chaput advocates would continue to provide a means for a reasonsable number of immigrants to enter the U.S. on an annual basis seeking citizenship. The details of how that number would be determined are not established. What would also be included, I think by a majority of the U.S. Bishops, would be a formalized “guest worker” program, which would allow entry into the U.S. of workers from other countries as temporary legal aliens, and allow them to live in the U.S., at least for the season of their employment, as well as to bring a spouse and children into the country for that same time frame.
The particular article quoted from Denver Archbishop Chaput, is one of the more understated and reasonable articles that I have seen posted from any U.S. Bishop. I have read a good portion of the Arizona bill and see very few things in it which might be onerous, if improperly enforced, but there are some. My own personal opinion as a Catholic is that contacts resulting in impounding of a vehicle and/or incarceration of suspects solely on illegal immigration charges, needs to be handled in such a manner that an alien legally in the U.S. on a temporary basis (for example an authorized guest worker who forgot to put his documents in his pocket) is not jailed on Friday evening with his car impounded, and have no ability to obtain release for himself and his vehicle, by having a wife, or house mate, bring his documents to the jail/courthouse and have him released upon proving his status. Many jurisdictions will not have a judge, magistrate or other official of competent jurisdiction available on the weekend, and the enforcement mechanisms put in place need to respect the dignity of those who are breaking the law, let alone those who are not but have simply forgotten to carry their papers.
It has been my experience that Archbishop Chaput is “one of the good guys” among the USCCB.
Pax et bonum,
Keith Töpfer