Should They Stay or Should They Go
My friend wondered if I agreed with her brother in law (they live in Mississippi), or if living in Texas (where illegal immigration is more apparent) had given me other thoughts.
I have never had a firm opinion on what “ought” to be done, because I could see both sides of the issue – at least politically speaking. But lately I’ve been looking at this issue in a new light, thinking about it in different terms. Becoming Catholic has changed my thinking in lots of ways, but I didn’t expect illegal immigration to be one of them!
I tried to explain to my friend what was going ‘round my brain. How I was trying to reconcile mercy and compassion with our nation’s laws. How I was trying to understand the Old Testament admonition to the Nation of Israel to treat the foreigner and the alien with kindness because Israel knew what it was to be the alien, while also following Paul’s advice to obey those in authority over me, namely my government.
This subject came up again in an email group that I’m a part of, so when I turned on a DVRed Sunday Night Live with Father Groeschel and he was answering questions about his view of immigration, I decided it was kismet – I was blogging about it!
I can’t do better than just summarize what Father said, because he voiced what I was thinking, but unable to vocalize, and explained where the ideas come from. So here’s what he had to say (a little caveat – I know this is a “hot topic”, I know that not everyone will agree with me, that’s okay, I have no intention of swaying them):
People are first human beings before they are a nationality and they should be treated as such. As human beings they mirror the image of God and we should treat them as that, not as “Americans” or “Mexicans”. Thomas Aquinas says that the earth belongs to the human race it doesn’t belong to any nation. This is natural law, and natural law precedes national law.
Why do people come? Why do they leave their homes and sometimes their families to come to America? It’s because they are desperate. They are poor. Here they have a chance to support their families in a way that they can’t back home. We in America are rich because of the poverty of other countries. We suck up their natural resources and their money. We use their people and their land for cheap labor and then we deny them our borders! We deny them an escape of what we helped create (it bothers me to have to citation for this).
According to Father Groeschel (who based his knowledge on the testimony of many immigrants he has spoken to) illegal immigrants buy phony green cards. So when they work they send in all their taxes and Social Security (and their employers match it). After a few months they receive a letter from the government saying they sent in the wrong green card number, so they send in another phony one. The government never responds again! So the US government is implicitly involved! These people pay in taxes and SS, but they can’t ever get those benefits! That means that millions of people are paying into SS that will never see a dime of that money!
There are 4 sins in the Old Testament that are said to “cry to heaven”:
1. murder
2. adultery
3. profanation of the Holy
4. denying workers their wages
It seems to me that denying SS benefits to those who pay in is denying the worker his wages! This is a grave injustice.
He goes on to say that America is not just guilty of abortion and slavery, but the way we treat those inside of our borders (however they came to be here) also cries to heaven. They are here because they are poor. They want to give their children a chance! Just like us…
this blog looks great,i hope i can read your article very soon.