Catholicism and Immigration

As was expected, the Pope, while in the US, weighed in on the debate of immigration as it has direct connection to the Church.  Many illegal immigrants are Catholics, so wherever they are, their plight is recognized by the Catholic Church.  Whether or not it’s a plight is another condition altogether.  Michelle Malkin has been on top of the Pope’s recent comments, and I can’t say I’m too pleased with the Catholic leadership on this issue either.  What’s worse is they practice what the anti-amnesty crowd preaches.

There are two methods to becoming Catholic– being baptized a Catholic when young(being a naturally-born citizen of Catholicism, so to speak), and being baptized a Catholic as an “adult” (or, “immigrating” to the Catholic faith).

When people decide to become a Catholic, they just don’t walk into Church and start taking Eucharist, singing in the choir, and serving as a lay minister.  In fact, to even take Eucharist, they have to go through a formation process that typically runs from the fall all the way up to Easter Vigil, where they are Baptized and Confirmed and welcomed to the faith as converts.  It’s a relatively painless process, where a sponsor helps the initiate along their way, and there’s not much in the way of monetary demands.  It’s like becoming a citizen of the Church– you have to apply, wait, and then go through the acceptance ceremony.

But the Church is now criticizing the US– especially those opposed to open-borders– because we’re asking people to do the same thing the Church does in welcoming new citizens.  The legal process is longer, and it involves paying money, usually a lot of it, to the US and/or an attorney for assistance.  However, these prerequisites are not an excuse for breaking the law, nor is it something that denies human rights, so I don’t see why the Church objects to the US policing of its borders and immigration policy.

In fact, I don’t see the Church objecting to any other country’s immigration laws.  Why pick on the US?  I think the Vatican has a big blind spot here, and it’s a policy that needs to be changed.  Enforcement of border laws is either such a grave violation of basic human rights that every country should be hammered by the Pope on not having open borders laws, or the Church should recognize that every country has a right to police the acceptance of citizens applying for entrance into the country.  I don’t see how stopping people from entering the US illegally is a sin.  Why doesn’t the Pope lay into Mexico for creating the conditions that encourage the emigration of people from their country?  Surely, if people are seeking better livable conditions, it shouldn’t be solely incumbent upon the US to provide for their needs?

The Church needs to take the blinders off and realize the harm they’re doing to the US if they continue to undermine naturalization processes.

Immigration Oddities

As I’ve said before, there’s nothing in this comprehensive immigration law that’s going to stop illegal immigration. Nor is there anything from the “stop illegal immigration” side that’s every going to pass, or if it does pass, it’ll take years to implement.

But it makes great political theater. Here are some highlights:

• The plan to send illegal immigrants home is defeated. I swear you can’t make this stuff up. What’s worse, it’s a temporary exile until the person can re-enter. Notice I didn’t say “legally” re-enter.
• Trent Lott is getting heat from his constituents. They have the gall to call his office and tie up his phone lines letting him know they’re unhappy about his support of the immigration bill! Silly constituents! The phone is for “people with concerns about Social Security or veterans’ benefits can’t get through”. Some of them are even using profanity! TERM LIMITS, people. See why we need it?
• The crux of the problem? It’s with Mexico. The country is rife with corrupt politicians, corrupt police, corrupt lawyers, judges, etc., all on the payroll of the drug cartels. And if you’re not on the payroll, you’re dead meat. Which would you rather be? Rich or dead? In the meantime, people go to work in the safest place around– America! Here they can send money back home to the family so they can bribe the local officials and live in relative safety. If we really wanted to stop the drug cartels, we should just reinvent the Monroe Doctrine and take military action against all drug cartels. Once a drug lord springs up, squash him. Zero tolerance.

People are leaving Mexico because they want to leave Mexico. If the Democrats were so unhappy after the 2004 election, why didn’t they flee to Canada or Mexico? Because the didn’t want to leave the U.S.! As bad as things are here, we’re not Mexico. Or Canada. (I’m just kidding– don’t send a curling team to whack my butt with brooms, ok, eh?)

So the solution is to make Mexico a place where nationals don’t want to leave. Once that happens, everybody will be happy. In the meantime, building a wall to keep the illegals out works to a degree, but they still play a vital role in the agricultural economy. So give them easy temporary visas (guest worker), track them, track their employers, and build a wall to force them to register as guest workers. If you bottleneck the route in, it’s easier to find out who’s coming in and out of the country. In the meantime, Mexicans can come in and work in the US in a legal manner.

Immigration! AIGH!

Many conservatives are up in arms about immigration. I’m a little confused about it all.

When Bush was campaigning, it was clear– crystal clear– that he was sympathetic in the extreme to the issue of amnesty for illegal aliens. I remember his campaign stop in Texas where he started speaking Spanish. Now that the Democrats are on-board with this Amnesty thing, all I can see is that this will happen, and– shocking prediction forthcoming– nothing new will happen.

That’s right. Nothing new at all. Even these “Type Z Visas” that are a one-page amnesty thing are not going to kill healthcare or social security any more than they have been in the past. Illegal immigrants are not going to become citizens because if they wanted to be citizens they could have become them already! It’s not that hard. I think it’s actually easier for an illegal immigrant to become a citizen than somebody who obtains a visa and comes here legally.

Listen. Social Security and Medicare are in horrible shape, mainly due to mismanagement and poor planning by the Feds. The political rule was “don’t touch Social Security”. Well, nobody’s touched it, but the demographics are shifting putting a greater burden upon the working. It’s questionable if I’ll get any Social Security payouts in 30 years. All we know is that the system needs a repair but nobody’s willing to touch that political live-wire.

So don’t rend your clothes when this passes. Sure, vent your anger on convenient political targets. But also remember that Bush has always been in favor of it. The Anchoress has a good view on just what else Bush has done in his Presidency.

The Immigration Wall: Success!

It’s finally worked! Here’s visual evidence of the partial wall at the border blocking illegal immigrants from crossing.
Now that we’ve got illegals from France covered…