Posted on 12/07/2007 1:49:09 PM PST by Coleus
The state lawmaker who wrote a new Oklahoma statute on illegal immigration that is considered one of the harshest such laws in the nation has said he plans to follow it up with "son of H.B. 1804" when the Legislature convenes in January. The Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007, also known as H.B. 1804, took effect Nov. 1.
Republican State Rep. Randy Terrill also said Tulsa Bishop Edward J. Slattery's Nov. 26 pastoral letter concerning the law was "noble but misguided." Terrill said Catholic leaders oppose the law because "the fastest-growing parishes in Catholicism are non-English-speaking" and that "a good portion" of their congregations "are illegal aliens." His remarks were quoted in the Nov. 29 Tulsa World daily newspaper. The following day, Bishop Slattery told a news conference he has been advised by attorneys that the new law is unconstitutionally vague and will not withstand scrutiny in the federal courts.
"It'll be too late by then," he said, noting that many immigrants, legal as well as illegal, have already fled the state and are continuing to flee. "The law is designed to put fear in the people so they will leave, and they are. The law is working," Bishop Slattery said. It makes it a felony to knowingly harbor or transport an illegal alien and creates specific barriers to hiring illegal immigrants. It requires proof of citizenship to obtain certain government benefits and requires all state agencies and contractors to check the immigration status of all workers after July 1, 2008.
The bishop's pastoral is titled "The Suffering Faces of the Poor Are the Suffering Face of Christ" ("Los rostros sufrientes de los pobres son el rostro sufriente de Cristo"). It calls for equal accessibility to all Catholic programs regardless of legal status, and pledges to provide legal assistance through Catholic Charities to those who need help in establishing or maintaining their legal residence in this country. It says the diocese will work with legal agencies to prepare a standardized "power of attorney" form that parents can use to indicate who should assume guardianship over their dependent children should those parents be arrested and face deportation. It also will provide Catholic foster care for parents who have formally indicated who should care for their children.
In his press conference remarks Nov. 30, he said Terrill "didn't do his homework" when the representative told the Tulsa World that the diocesan Catholic Charities agency receives some taxpayer money. "Let's call a spade a spade," the lawmaker said. But the same story quoted Kevin Sartorius, an official with Catholic Charities of the Tulsa Diocese, who pointed out that federal funding accounts for less than 2 percent of the agency's budget, and none of it is used to benefit illegal immigrants. Bishop Slattery said Catholic Charities receives $48,000 to resettle refugees who are brought to the diocese by federal officials and another $15,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for emergency food distribution.
"I wonder on how many other things he didn't do his homework," Bishop Slattery said. The bishop reiterated his long-standing view that immigration reform is desperately needed, and it must come at the federal level. He predicted reform will come but not until after the '08 elections. He also said he believes the immigration system's multiple problems will be addressed no matter who wins the election. Politicians do not have "strong enough character" to address the inequities if it is going to cost them votes, he said. "It's a lack of courage. No one wants to lead anymore."
He said H.B. 1804 or any subsequent legislation that denies such fundamental rights as citizenship being granted to all people born in the Unites States or makes English the official state language -- both possibilities floated by Terrill -- simply will not stand constitutional muster. "There is no good argument for the law," the bishop said. "Yes, they are in this country illegally, but we cannot send them back; there are too many. That can't happen. The borders need to be closed off. But this law is not the answer. It (causes) a lot of unnecessary suffering." And, he added, "states shouldn't be allowed to set their own immigration policy."
bump
I just don’t understand I talked with a guy while on business trip this week who lives in Oklahoma and he sat there and looked at me and said, “he did not like the new Oklahoma immigration law because who would do the labor once the illegals went home? Who would build houses and process food etc...”
People are so stupid.
If they thought all of those illegals coming were say, Evangelical Protestant Baptists, Assembly of God, Church of Christ or Church of God and NOT Catholics, would the be so adamant on open borders -- I think not!!!!
I am afraid that they would. The present generation of bishops is infected with the liberal politics of the 60's. As such they have reduced the Gospel message to social outreach to the poor and disfranchised. The religion of the immigrants is not what is driving this.
In any case, this is a question of prudential judgment that is in the political realm of the laity; it is not a matter of faith or morals. Thus no one is bound to follow their position. In reality, on this matter the bishops should remain silent and leave it to the laity to whom the question belongs.
The Catholic Religion is the largest Christian religion in the world with no problems with membership or donations. Every week EWTN portrays protestant ministers who converted to Catholicism. And, those religions you mentioned above have had their share of sexual abuse problems too. You don’t have to apologize for anything.
RESOLVED, That we encourage Christian churches to act redemptively and reach out to meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of all immigrants, to start English classes on a massive scale, and to encourage them toward the path of legal status and/or citizenship; and be it finally
RESOLVED, That we encourage all Southern Baptists to make the most of the tremendous opportunity for evangelism and join our Master on His mission to seek and save those who are lost (Luke 19:10) among the immigrant population to the end that these individuals might become both legal residents of the United States and loyal citizens of the Kingdom of God.
I agree with Bishop Slattery on some points, and disagree on others. He is a holy shepherd, and my thinking he’s wrong on some points of worldly prudence doesn’t change that.
Challenge caucus designation. Story is about a dispute between a Catholic bishop and a Baptist layman.
Does the article mention State Rep. Terrill’s being a Baptist?
Sorry, but no substantive responses from me on this thread while it bears a caucus tag.
May your weekend be pleasant.
The theological beliefs of the layman are not declared in the article nor are they apparent in casual reading.
Read my mind. Sounds to me like the good representative found an excellent way to bash Catholics and hide behind the law while he does it. He didn't even have to respond to the bishop, but he did and in a way which gives away his apparent deep dislike of Catholics.
The bishop will not concede that he is effectively arguing that the border between the United States and Mexico has been erased. But one thing is clear. Eevery state has the right to discriminate between citizens, resident aliens and illegal aliens. Only citizens enjoy all the rights he claims for the illegals.
I do care that those religions and faiths go to other countries (especially South of the Border ones - Mexico comes quickly to mind) and tell those people that they'd be better off "Coming to America" for all their ills, especially if those faiths have for centuries had missionaries and churches in those countries and partially responsible for those people being in the condition they are in.
Talk about “Open Borders for Jesus”! My goodness.
No one in Okahoma is asgainst this law, including the OKLAHOMA Indians. The bishop needs to move in wider circles. It is not that these are bad Let him get up and denounce the businessmen who have lured people into his state. Maybe he knows that some of his leading supporters are “patrons.” who have got rich on cheap labor.
It goes back further than that. The Democratic Party has enjoyed the support of Catholkics since the 1850s. Back during the 1930s, they became part of the New Deal Coalition. The big difference between them and their partners was that they were anti-communist. In the 1960s. liberal anti-communism pretty much disappeared, or had by the middle 1970s. The Democratics was taken over by McGovernites. Roe vs. Wade became the chief dogma of their social views, and the bishops found themselves increasingly ignored by the pols. Cardinal Bernardin dodged the abortion controversy, which was now a Republican wedge issue, by confusing it with the issues of war, the death penalty, and poverty. Even now with their authority compromised by the sex scandal and their coffers looted by shysters. they still pathetically try to cozy up to the Democratic Party, trying to ignore the fact that that Party is dominated by agnostics.
As to, “Slats”, why would educated citizens let the Catholic Church extort money from them and abuse their children? I guess illegal aliens have no choice. This is not the first time the Catholic Church has compulsively misinformed and misled the public. This bill was OVERWHELMINGLY supported by Oklahomans of all political persuasions.
They are leaving, that is wonderful news. I hope “Slats” Slattery IS correct about that!
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