Posted on 03/18/2006 9:19:19 AM PST by sanormal
In a tiny house on the West Side, two nuns provide a daily break for Mexican immigrant mothers struggling to raise families in a foreign culture.
The nuns teach English, computer skills and arts and crafts. They celebrate birthdays and invite residents to the local Catholic church for Masses. If requested, they give advice on applying for citizenship.
It's free. No questions asked. Not about religion. Not about legal status.
But the work of the 7-month-old Presentation Ministry Center and similar organizations could be in jeopardy, according to opponents of a bill approved by the U.S. House in December.
As part of a proposed overhaul of immigration law, the House wants to make it a crime for any individual or group to knowingly assist the nation's estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants.
Whether Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or Islamic, religious leaders say critical social services to the undocumented potentially could be reduced — if not stopped — should that part of the bill become law.
It could force them into a moral quandary: Obey civil law or God's mandate to show compassion to the poor.
Many religious leaders already have made their choice.
"If they want to put a bunch of priests and ministers in jail, then we're going to have to face the consequences," said Father Jim Loiacono, pastor of Our Lady of Refuge Catholic Church in Eagle Pass, four blocks from the Texas-Mexico border. "It's heartless because these are people who are so desperate there's no way we can turn them away."
(Excerpt) Read more at mysanantonio.com ...
"Then they should suffer the consequences of their lawlessness.
"
How about the cops and ICE? They're not doing anything about all those illegals, either. What consequences will they face?
Apparently you cannot read, and have a nonbiblical agenda. These people are lawbreakers, and have made their choice to reject the norms for this society. It is not YOUR right to decide if they can disobey those laws.
So, no borders for you, eh?
I hope you have a BIIIIIG checkbook to pay for your adherence to your passages. Oh, yeah, and when people DIE because the local hospital closed down (which it did), I'll send the family to you and let you explain that their loved one died for your scriptures.
As far as I am concerned, you and people like you killed them.
"Aiding and abetting comes to mind."
Well, if inaction about illegal aliens can be construed as aiding and abetting, there are a bunch of our elected and appointed leaders who have been doing that very thing.
I say let's go after those who actually have the power to enforce the law before we go after a bunch of nuns, for pete's sake.
You are real good at hyperbole.
I'm with you on all of those suggestions, many of which I have made in prior posts on this forum. But to stop the influx, going after the employers needs to be the first order of business.
I have suggested that before an employee can start that their SSN and name be verified by the Social Security Administration. Currently it takes about 9 months for them to figure out that the SSN and name don't match their records and by then they've moved on. If we can debit a checking account in a fraction of a second, we con confirm a name and SSN in less than a day. No more plausible deniability for employers of illegals.
The Hebrews maintained fortified cities while obeying god's laws toward aliens. Why do you think treating aliens well translates to open borders?
Sadly, nothing. They are following the edicts of their own leaders.
The worst of which, on this issue is:
| We are now one of the largest Spanish-speaking nations in the world. We're a major source of Latin music, journalism and culture. Just go to Miami, or San Antonio, Los Angeles, Chicago or West New York, New Jersey ... and close your eyes and listen. You could just as easily be in Santo Domingo or Santiago, or San Miguel de Allende. For years our nation has debated this change -- some have praised it and others have resented it. By nominating me, my party has made a choice to welcome the new America. As I speak, we are celebrating the success of democracy in Mexico. George Bush from a campaign speech in Miami, August 2000. |
Here is an excerpt of a good critique of that speech:
In equating our intimate historic bonds to our mother country and to Canada with our ties to Mexico, W. shows a staggering ignorance of the civilizational facts of life. The reason we are so close to Britain and Canada is that we share with them a common historical culture, language, literature, and legal system, as well as similar standards of behavior, expectations of public officials, and so on. My Bush Epiphany By Lawrence Auster
"You are real good at hyperbole."
Show me what is exaggerated. Are the cops arresting illegals? Is ICE deporting them if the cops do arrest them? Is Congress working really hard to fix the illegal alien problem? How about President Bush? Is he leading the effort to do something about the swarm of illegals?
These nuns are not the problem. They're just doing what they do with who is already here. I lay the blame where it properly belongs.
Ask yourself this: If these nuns reported the illegals they serve, would anybody care? As I suggested, you go report some illegals and see if you get any action.
Thank you.
Anyway, I don't believe in using the Bible, by the open borders lobby, to justify allowing millions of people to come and stay here illegally.
"For years our nation has debated this change -- some have praised it and others have resented it. By nominating me, my party has made a choice to welcome the new America.
"
That line from Bush's speech is burned into my brain. Throw open the doors! I'm afraid that George W. Bush lost me with that speech.
We, as a nation, simply are not doing anything about the huge invasion of illegal aliens into our country. We're not even enforcing the laws we already have on our books, and we're not making those laws more strict.
I'm not worried about some nuns feeding some illegal women and taking care of their children while they're working. That's not the problem. I lay it where it belongs.
It is all part of an entire fabric. Every stand needs to be in place (and you are right, they aren't. I would even go as far as to say try your experiment with ICE and you will get the same result).
But assuming we get the enforcement threads back into place, we can't allow a ripped thread to be where the lawbreakers find refuge. It is critical that these invaders look and find NO WHERE TO GO BUT HOME.
Knowingly feeding and sheltering a bank robber is immoral and a crime. If you total the entire amount that these invaders have stolen from us -- NET OF their so-called "contributions" - it is no doubt thousands of times more than the entire amount of all bank robberies committed.
You are correct in both of your statements.
However, the politicians look at the illegals as a source of power within the voting block and probably not back down from that position. Secondly, the chuch has a mandate to follow regarding helping others without question. Whether this vilolates the laws of the land, they would believe that they are following God's laws.
"Anyway, I don't believe in using the Bible, by the open borders lobby, to justify allowing millions of people to come and stay here illegally."
Well, as you can see by my tagline, I don't base things on what the Bible says, either. I support people's beliefs, though, and am quite certain that our illegal alien problem is not caused by some nuns who think they are helping the poor.
I know who's responsible for the problem. That's where I put my blame. Let the nuns help who they wish. Even if they reported these illegals, nobody would come to get them. That's the problem, not the nuns.
Because I believe our laws in this our immoral and wrong this makes me against God? Every good Chrisitian who took the time to understand what God says about aliens and why should be trying to get the law changed on this as well as changing the laws on abortion etc.
Does these OT laws still apply and make it through the cross, should be the real question? I believe that Christ's teaching on neighbor by word and by example leave no doubt our treatment of them is not moral.
Everyone dies, that's a fact of life. What's your point? Plenty of people all around the world die every day for lack of better or any medical care. Are you arguing that some people are more entitled to medical help because they are lucky. Merely because they were born in a wealthy country? That's silly on the face of it, plenty of people I know who were born in this country have no value outside what God has established for them purely out of their humanness, something which they share with everyone else. By what cosmic logic do they “deserve” good medical care? Isn't it more a matter of luck?
What exactly makes one human illegal while another legal?
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