Illegal immigrants don't follow civil rule
Sunday, January 20, 2008
By JAMES BAUKNEY
For the Courier-Post

The political cartoon that ran Dec. 29 on the Opinion page was insulting and ridiculous. It showed a woman screaming "illegal immigrants" to Mary and Joseph. It is ridiculous since Mary and Joseph were not illegal immigrants. In fact, they were following civil rule by partaking in the census the civil authorities had ordered.

Following civil rule is not something that concerns illegal immigrants. Jesus himself recognized that civil authority should be followed. When he was asked about taxes, he responded, "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's." There is nothing in the Bible that would indicate Mary, Joseph or Jesus would blatantly violate civil law as illegal immigrants do. Bad behavior

Not only do illegal immigrants ignore the very generous "pathway to citizenship" that exists, they usually also commit additional violations such as document fraud, failure to pay taxes and theft of services -- all behaviors that were not a part of Mary's, Joseph's or Jesus' behavior. It is insulting to imply that anyone who expects people to abide by reasonable civil law is not very Christian.

The cartoon is typical of the groups that benefit from illegal immigrants. Since there is no valid, logical argument supporting illegal immigrants' behavior, they have to resort to such nonsense as calling people who expect immigrants to come to this country legally racists and anti-Christian. Pander for votes

This includes politicians who pander for special interest votes such as U.S. sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, both D-N.J., and U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J. There is currently a bipartisan bill called the Save Act that will start enforcing the immigration laws. It has 122 sponsors in the House, including 45 Democrats. Three U.S. senators have co-sponsored a similar bill in the Senate.

But our representatives are noticeably absent from the sponsor list. They are too busy pandering to those who disrespect our laws, instead of the hard-working, taxpaying New Jersey residents who want the laws enforced.

It is the same majority who sees no need for a pathway to citizenship for those who ignore the current pathway to citizenship when the current law is just fine if actually enforced. Abolish rewards

When you take away the rewards illegal immigrants get by violating the law and punish those who take advantage of the illegal immigrants, then the illegal immigrants will voluntarily go home and get in line to come legally.

When they get to the top of the line they will be welcomed by the vast majority of Americans who are not racist and value Christian teachings. The real racists are those who believe some groups should be exempt from following the rule of law.

The writer lives in Pennsauken, NJ
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