The obligation to respond decently to needy people does not, however, wipe out the obligation to do in a way that doesn't destroy other elements of the Common Good. In fact, justice to these groups must take place in the larger context of justice to all, as far as our prudence can work that out. And that's where the problems arise.
The controversy about the status of those who enter this country unlawfully is difficult in part because many of these millions are simultaneously accessories to, as well as victims of, injustice.
Check out the testimony of Dr. Carol Swain, a Vanderbilt University professor of law and political science, who spoke to the House panel on immigration last September. (Good Link Here.) She made a convincing case that it is the steady flow of cheap migrant labor which destroys job opportunities and depresses wages for poor blacks and other American minorities.
It's very well to say, as you did, that Latino new-arrivals may be a better category of workers than our own home-grown welfare class. It's legitimate, though, to ask whether successive waves of low-wage foreign workers have played a role in keeping our own "welfare class" socially demoralized and unemployable.
The degradation of the wages of those who are already the poorest-paid workers in America, and the disappearance of jobs for unskilled youth, is having a catastrophic impact on our "permanent underclass." This is a legitimate argument against the acceptance of massive numbers of newcomers, no matter where they come from. It stems from concern for a vast group of sufferers whose interests are rarely considered: the millions --- particularly young, unskilled, minority males --- who are substantially, and in some cases for a lifetime, robbed of any prospect of gainful employment because they have been displaced by a vast influx of exploited foreign nationals.
That’s why I must ask you to resist reducing this controversy to racism or xenophobia on the part of those who strongly oppose illegal immigration. It's a mistake to assume that present immigration controversy is attributable to unreasonable fears and resentments.
The stand taken by these eight Florida bishops is sufficiently squishy that it will likely have little impact. But to the extent that we pay any attention to it at all, let's notice that they're making the same rhetorical error here that the USCCB made in the "health reform" debate: namely, they're giving a sonorous "Oremus" to the label of "immigration reform", while allowing the content to be substantially defined by President Obama and his legislative allies.
If the so-called "reform" is injurious to the Common Good, no amount of "Oremus" is going to make it "compassionate," "generous" or "just".
My own specific critique will have to wait til later. What I'm doing here, Natural Law, is defending our right as a matter of justice and charity to disagree with Bishops' ill-considered political positions. Charity and justice are always the Church's concern; but public policy is the sphere of lay responsibility in which clergy have neither special competence nor direct ecclesial authority.
I am not completely endorsing the Bishop's position, but I recognize too that the Bishop is not attempting to set policy, but rather to shape it. In doing so one must often exaggerate and over state ones position.
But lets not deceive ourselves into believing that we are innocent victims in this matter, intentionally targeted and abused by a hoard of uninvited immigrants. We as Americans share much of the blame for creating and fostering the conditions that lead to the current state of affairs. We as Catholics have an obligation to deal with the human consequences regardless of the causes and blames.
An insane drug policy that ignores the lessons of Prohibition, coupled with an insatiable demand for drugs in this country has created conditions south of the that no sane human would wish to endure or let alone attempt to raise a family. The popular culture here that thinks drugs are cool and that drug use is a victimless crime is an accomplice in the violence in Mexico.
The demand and tolerance for cheap, off the books labor, whether by businesses or by individuals looking for a nanny, construction workers, or crop harvesting is creating an attractive nuisance. This coupled with open borders and a catch and release immigration policy provides no disincentives. Lastly our welfare policies and freebies as a result of both political parties looking for new voters has resulted in a very large problem.