Posted on 03/23/2006 11:50:06 AM PST by Crackingham
As a group of homeless day laborers cluster around her in a dusty Lake Worth parking lot, Sister Rachel Sena takes names and numbers. The Catholic nun doles out cash to men and women from such far-flung provinces as Huehuetenango, Guatemala, all recently evicted from overcrowded apartments for code violations. She tells them where they can find shelter and medical care. She does not ask for Green Cards.
If some members of Congress have their way, Sena's work would soon be a crime. A proposed federal law could make it illegal for individuals like her to help undocumented immigrants. Sena and other church leaders say the measure exploits anti-immigrant fears that flared after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"It goes against what any Christian is taught," said Sena, who heads the Maya Ministry in Lake Worth, part of the Palm Beach Diocese. "These are extremists who want to implement a discriminatory practice in the name of being patriotic."
The legislation has passed the House and a version is making its way through the Senate. A compromise bill is likely, but the House measure has outraged religious leaders and put them at odds with conservative legislators in the immigration-reform battle. The bill, introduced by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., would charge anyone who knowingly helps undocumented immigrants remain in the United States with "alien smuggling" and subject them to a prison term of up to five years. The bill's language is broad enough to snare churches and humanitarian agencies that serve immigrant populations, opponents say.
.......
"The government has gone too far," said the Rev. Jorge Alvarez of Taft Hispanic Baptist Church in Hollywood. "We're there to minister to people. We are not immigration. We will not become immigration. If we have to pay the consequences, then we'll pay them."
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
How can I take this article seriously? The title alone is false. Leaving "illegal" out is a deliberate lie.
I'd tell them to but out. Remember that thing about Church and State?
There's a Catholic church here in our city that harbors illegals and the priest continually tells the congregation that they need to embrach their hispanic brothers and sisters.
Phooey! I'll embrace them alright. In handcuffs.
Please call them INVADERS and don't compare them to people who are legal aliens!
President Bush has been great on most things except for our border.
He has been great on the war on terrorists.
But on the border he is a gross failure.
He acted fast and correct on the 3,000+ people murdered at the world trade center.
He ignores the many rapes, murders and robberies which might be larger than the murders and money loss at the world trade center.
More Americans are abducted on the border of Mexico than in Iraq!
Start building the fence.
It should be made a felony for Criminals who overstay their visas and Invaders.
I believe we should give amnesty to these poor CRIMINALS or INVADERS.
This should be a 2 week amnesty to get the heck out of our Country.
The ones who ignore this amnesty should be buried in a tent city jail and fined $10,000 or buried elsewhere.
All aiders and abettors of these CRIMINALS or INVADERS should get 1 year in a tent city jail and a $10,000 fine for each CRIMINAL aided.
Those in government should be the first ones charged.
Sorry for the crude analogy, but isn't this like feeding the stray cat dog whatever that comes to your house? Will it not keep coming back? Will it not survive without you?
I have no problem with a church helping out in a humanitarian way someone who approaches them for help...food, clothing. However, when the aid becomes an organized effort that promotes an illegal activity then I think they have crossed the line.
Exactly. Having them go to the church is one thing. Having the church go to them is another.
I would expect the enforcement of any future law to be just as good as the enforcement of the current law requiring financial and criminal penalties for employers hiring illegals.
The Rev isn't exactly putting his neck on the block.
Does said church get a tax break or no taxes? Maybe that would fund the drain on the economy caused by illegals!
What are Christians typically taught about breaking the law or assisting others in breaking the law.
"Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what is God's"
"I came not to abolish, but to fulfill"
There are others not readily on my tongue, but I have pinged another.
These people really ought to quit it. It's not genuine, and it's just plain clumsy. Even if you take the parable as not being a parable but a true story, she's still wrong, as pretty much the whole region had long been absorbed into the Roman Empire by the time Jesus was doing his work. TO argue that Jesus was undocumented is also a laugh, particularly if we are to continue in the path of reading it right out of the Bible. It says clearly as ever that he was taken to be circumcised and accounted for at the proper time in accordance with the law.
No, I was not hollaring the "To" above. Darn that sticky shift key!
Ya want to help the downtrodden in the turd world? GO THERE! You wnat to tell me they have a right to invade my country?
Stick it Padre.
hmm..that's an interesting question rohn. It might be worth looking into..
Should the Church leaders be assisting Enron employees who participated in staging the false "trading centers"?
"If some members of Congress have their way, Sena's work would soon be a crime. A proposed federal law could make it illegal for individuals like her to help undocumented immigrants."
So? It IS illegal already: aiding and abetting lawbreakers.
Religionists should keep their pontificating noses out of our affairs.
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