The US Conference of Catholic bishops (USCCB) has recently re-published the
Justice for Immigrants website in a bid to rally Catholics and Congress to support "immigration reform". Bishop John Wester, of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, is the head of the immigration committee at the USCCB and together with Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany are spearheading a campaign to prompt congress to reform immigration. Their stated goals are as follows:
- a pathway to citizenship for the 11-12 million of undocumented;
- reforms for family migration – the so-called "family reunification";
- legal avenues for migrants to come here to work;
- the restoration of due process protections for immigrants;
- steps to address the root causes of migration or the push factor.
While I certainly agree with Justice for immigrants (legal) and the humane treatment of all people, what the bishops are really asking for, in indirect language that would make politicians proud, is that America ignore justice when it comes to ILLEGAL aliens living within our borders and grant them a road trip to amnesty. The fact is that these are not just "undocumented" workers, these are individuals and families that have entered our country illegally, and are therefore guilty of crime, not merely being "undocumented".
Bishop Wester, there is already a path for citizen ship for the 11-12 million illegal aliens in our country. Let me spell it out if you do not understand it. Return to your country (Perhaps Bishop Wester's Diocese can help with the cost of this move.) and apply for legal immigration to America, at which time we will welcome them with open arms.
As noted above, Bishop Wester's call for action also includes a request for the restoration of due process protections for immigrants. Perhaps this has also slipped past the USCCB, but immigrants do have due process protections, it is ILLEGAL ALIENS that do not have them in the country they entered illegally.
Finally, steps to address the root causes of migration. Unfortunately, the USCCB's has failed to give congress or the citizens a plan to address the causes of migration, or the means of paying for it. Let's face it; the biggest reason is quality of life, which most often boils down to jobs and money. The US did in fact make a bid to create more jobs in Mexico (at the expense of American jobs) through NAFTA fiasco. So far, it hasn't worked. Why? Because the issue of money management, workers rights, protections, and fair pay in Mexico need to be addressed by the government of Mexico, not America.
That being said however, there is something that America could do that would help address these quality of life issues in Mexico and assist companies in America. Repeal NAFTA! The greatest thing that the USCCB could do to level the playing field for Mexicans, in Mexico, and thus reduce immigration, is to encourage the repeal of NAFTA until/unless the jobs that are sent to Mexico are afforded the same protection (unions, OSHA, Unemployment insurance, minimum wage, social security, collective bargaining, anti-discrimination, etc) that American's have. Of course if American Companies had to pay for all of this in Mexico, they wouldn't ship the jobs down there quite as quickly. Yes… the root cause of immigration is the fact that Mexico is not America.
The Justice for Immigrants website goes to great lengths to tell us the virtues of having an illegal alien population in our country. According to the website immigrants don't increase crime(Not sure how they can make this claim with open honesty when the very fact that they are here illegally… is a crime.), speak good English
by the second and third generation, don't drain the economy, don't compete with citizens for jobs, and are a general benefit to our society.
Perhaps Bishop Wester can extol all these virtues to the family of the Sheriff's deputy that was shot recently in Delta, Utah, his home state, by an "undocumented worker". Perhaps he can explain how illegal immigrants are not burdening our economy by explaining that he is willing to pay the costs to create and maintain the ESL programs in our schools, the cost of translators in our hospitals, and the other costs that the tax payers are covering. Perhaps he can tell the hospitals that those "undocumented workers" that use their resources and do not pay and cannot be collected against, are not really raising the cost of health care for the rest of us. Perhaps they will buy it, perhaps millions of faithful Catholics will buy it…
But not this faithful Catholic.