Thread: Illegal Alien Advocates Ignore the Real Problem

Illegal Alien Advocates Ignore the Real Problem
Michael Cutler

Two United States Catholic bishops have written to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, asking the agency to adopt policies aimed at assisting families and communities affected by immigration raids. Normally I do not engage in discussions relating to religion, but this issue should be important for all Americans, regardless of their religious orientation.

I recently testified before the Indiana State Senate about a bill (SB 335) that would enable the state of Indiana to revoke the business license of any business that repeatedly hires illegal aliens, and provides other measures to enable that state to do the job the federal government won't do where immigration is concerned. During the hearing, I listened to a representative of the Catholic Church talk about the need to honor the dignity of the "undocumented immigrants."

For the Catholic Church to take a stand on an issue that has such extreme implications for national security is outrageous. What is also outrageous is the fact that while the Church decries the lack of dignity that the arrest of illegal aliens represents (in the Church's judgment), why is the Church conspicuously absent at those factories and other work sites where illegal aliens are horribly treated? Why is the Church not showing up to protest the terrible conditions under which illegal aliens often live and work?

During my long career at the former INS, I found (on many occasions) illegal aliens living in abject squalor. I have seen 20 adult men "living" in an apartment that was intended for a family of four. These men slept on mattresses laid next to each other and placed end to end. They shared a single bathroom. They shared the apartment that had no furnishings with vermin that scampered across the floor and with bugs that encrusted the walls to the extent that when you flipped on the light switch, those bugs would scatter in all directions – creating what we used to refer to as a "moving wall."

The stench was so awful and pervasive that it would sometimes remain in my nostrils for a week.

I have also raided factories that essentially recreated the horrific conditions found in the Triangle Shirt Factory, which existed 100 years ago in New York City. (On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on a Saturday afternoon, causing the deaths of 146 young women. There was no way for them to escape the flames.) I have seen conditions in factories in which fire exits were blocked by boxes of fabrics and other supplies. And while the owner of the factory might have had his office air conditioner cranked up to maximum output on a hot summer day, the workers on the factory floor had no air conditioners. Oftentimes the windows were barely open, and between the heat from the summer sun and the steam presses running full tilt, the only breeze was provided by filth-laden fans on tall stanchions. These workers sat shoulder to shoulder and the dust from the fabric mixed with the hot humid air that was being re-circulated by those fans.

I’ve also witnessed restaurant workers sleeping on hammocks that were strung up between the pipes in the basement of a diner, providing the appearance of a slave ship. There were days that I found it difficult to go to sleep after a day at work and seeing the wholesale abuse and mistreatment of human beings at the hands of unscrupulous employers.

Aliens who benefited from the amnesty of 1986 were often quickly fired by their unscrupulous employers once they were legal. Those employers did not have to wait long for new employees who would not make such demands as fair pay, regulation hours and safe work conditions. They simply hired the next wave of illegal aliens.

The issue is that lawful immigrants cannot be exploited, but illegal aliens can be, and are, exploited.

The officials of the Church have to understand how this all happens. At best the Church is being naïve; at worst, they don't care about this exploitation because their interest ends with the recruitment of more members for the Church. The article linked above parallels that sentiment and even goes so far as to recommend that the economic stimulus package that has just been approved by the President should also apply to illegal aliens.

Illegal aliens are not "undocumented immigrants,â€

Right on the money! I sent to my archdiocese office.

As usual, Michael Cutler gets it right.

If churches are going to harbor illegal alien fugatives who have been issued federal deportation orders , engage in political discourse aimed at influencing US law, then they should lose their tax exempt status.

Leave law enforcement to the police and the preaching at the Sunday Pulpit, otherwise, pay up like everyone else.

Bingo.

I second that!!


>>>>>>>>>>>"RED ALERT"2/20<<<<<<<<<<<<
Utah...We Need callers now!! Please take action!
"It Could be your state next"
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-104592.html
Utah and Indiana.... Call, e-mail, Fax campaign!!
http://www.alipac.us/ftopic-103479-days ... asc-0.html

I sent this article to all 29 members of the Utah Senate since SB 81 is under attack by the Catholic Church, among other religious organizations.