Thread: Cardinal urges immigration reform

Cardinal urges immigration reform
By Richard Wilson

Staff Writer

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

HAMILTON — Laws need to change when enforcement is immoral.

That's according to Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras, who sees similarities between the Nazi raids on the Jews and the raids in the U.S. that are sending illegal immigrants back to their home countries.

Maradiaga, who was a candidate for the papacy in 2005, stopped in Hamilton on Wednesday, Sept. 17, during a visit to the region.

The 66-year-old religious leader spoke to a small audience at Miami University Hamilton about U.S. policy and its impact on people in Central America. He then attended a bi-lingual mass at St. Julie Billiart Parish on Dayton Street.

With parishes in the U.S. and in Central America, Maradiaga said the Catholic church sees the problem of immigration from both sides. The church's position opposes breaking laws, acknowledges the right of a nation state to control its borders, to regulate entry and to protect its citizens, he said.

"But at the same time however, the church says that human beings have a right to migrate, particularly in search of work, in order to improve their human conditions and to provide for the needs of their families," Maradiaga said.

People in Central America and Mexico are migrating to the U.S. and to Europe because there is a lack of development in their countries, Maradiaga said. The poor conditions are a direct result of U.S. policy in the past that supported repressive military regimes, and ongoing policy that enables foreign companies to harm the environment and exploit workers, Maradiaga said.

Maradiaga said there are ways to protect borders and citizens while still protecting the integrity and human rights of immigrants. There are also ways to work fairly in Third World countries and pay taxes which help development in those countries, Maradiaga said.

Maradiaga said U.S. immigration laws need to change to allow good working conditions, families to stay together, and the protection of migrants' dignity and human rights.

After the speech and a question and answer session, the Rev. Michael U. Pucke said the message that he will take back to his parishioners at St. Julie Billiart Parish is that Jesus wasn't a bricklayer who built walls, but a carpenter who built doors.


Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2122 or rwilson@coxohio.com.




http://www.middletownjournal.com/hp/con ... visit.html

Maybe the Cardinal from Honduras should be more concerned about the state of his own country, rather than trying to influence U.S. policies. But then, their answer to problems in their countries would be to export them to the U.S.

"But at the same time, however, the church says that human beings have the right to migrate, particularly in search of work, in order to improve their human conditions and to provide for the needs of their families, Maradiaga said." What on earth is "the right to migrate"

who sees similarities between the Nazi raids on the Jews and the raids in the U.S. that are sending illegal immigrants back to their home countries.


Ridiculous! The Natzis rounded up the Jews and transported them to death camps. They sent them to their death. Not quite a trip home.