Thread: New twist given in defense of illegal immigrants

New twist given in defense of illegal immigrants
Last Update: 11/02 8:16 pm

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Two Catholic priests are comparing illegal immigrants to Oklahoma's early settlers in a new twist to arguments against deporting the illegals to Mexico and other counties.

After all, the priests say, the original "Sooners" broke the rules when they slipped into the state early to claim free land on April 22, 1889, ahead of the "Boomers," who stayed at border until signaled across.

The Rev. Michael Chapman and the Rev. Don Wolf evoked Oklahoma history as they spoke to hundreds of mostly Hispanic legal and illegal immigrants who gathered at the Capitol on Thursday to protest the immigration law's implementation.

"You are beginning a new page in the 100-year Boomer-Sooner legacy," said Chapman, pastor of the Holy Angels Catholic Church in Oklahoma City. "We are so proud of our legal-illegal heritage. We've got to find a way to incorporate that into our laws in Oklahoma."

Oklahoma "defines itself by those who settled here illegally," said Wolf, pastor of mostly Spanish-speaking parishes in Duncan.

Years before that 1889 Land Run, Boomer leader David Payne was arrested several times in his bid to open the Unassigned Lands in Indian Territory for white settlers. Indian Territory was later combined with Oklahoma Territory to form the 46th state in 1907.

The acts of Payne and the Sooners were civil matters, just as illegal immigrants are defying civil law by entering the country without papers. The penalty is deportation.

Both the Oklahoma settlers and the mostly Hispanic illegal immigrants of today had in common a quest for "economic freedom," Wolf said at the Capitol rally.

"Obviously, it was the Sooner who came across before the Land Run of 1889 and staked out claims in the cover of night," Chapman said later in an interview.

"That was not following the rules. But we haven't forgotten them and we certainly haven't accused them."

While the "Sooner" tag carried a negative connotation in the state's early days, that did not stop the University of Oklahoma from adopting it as the name of their athletic teams.

With time, according to the OU official Web site, Sooner became a synonym of "progressivism" and a Sooner was known as "an energetic individual who travels ahead of the human procession. He was a prosperous, ambitious, can-do individual.

"And Oklahoma was the Sooner State, the land of opportunity, enterprise and economic expansion, very much in the progressive spirit that engulfed the old South in the 1920s."

Chapman said the Hispanic immigrants are comparable to "people leaving Ireland or the eastern United States and coming west with the promise of finding a way to make a living.

"They made some great sacrifices and faced many obstacles and some of those obstacles were legal obstacles."

He said many of today's illegal immigrants are good people who "did one wrong thing. Since they got here, they have established a home and a job and raised kids. They've been good de facto citizens."

Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, who introduced the anti-immigration measure, said the priests are historically accurate, "but we're not the same country and we're not the same state as we were then."

"There are no vast expanses of land in need of settlement and technological advances have made dissolution of old allegiances more difficult," the lawmaker said.

Some churches and charity groups that work with Hispanics say the law has created a lot of fear, leading thousands of immigrants to flee the state. They said they would continue providing services to immigrants, despite a section in the new law making it a felony to harbor or transport an illegal immigrant.

Terrill said having illegal immigrants leave Oklahoma "is the intended purpose of the bill."

As far as arguments of the priests that the bill in inhumane, he said: "I don't want to engage in a religious debate with these folks. I understand their point of view. I just disagree profoundly with them."

Some say the law will present hardships for families by forcing breadwinners to abandon spouses and children, who are legal residents.

Terrill said negative consequences always affect families of law breakers. "They have no one to blame but themselves," he said.

He vowed not to be put on the defensive on the issue and said he planned to make the law "even tougher" next legislative session.

Terrill is considering proposals to permit the seizure of assets tied to harboring or transporting an illegal immigrant and to give law enforcement agencies incentives to join a federal program whereby officers are given training by federal immigration authorities.

The Tulsa County Sheriff's Department had 30 deputies trained under the program. The result: 735 arrests of people suspected of being illegal immigrants since July 1, according to Sheriff Stanley Glanz.

Other sheriffs departments have not joined the program, with some officials saying they have all they can handle fighting serious crime in their counties.

Under the new law, all local enforcement agencies now have the authority to detain illegal immigrants for federal authorities if the illegals are charged with DUI or a felony.
http://www.kjrh.com/news/state/story.as ... 1e18cde83f

Other sheriffs departments have not joined the program, with some officials saying they have all they can handle fighting serious crime in their counties.

Hmmm........I guess all illegal aliens are perfect angels and none of them commit serious crimes. Well, to that I would say nation-wide statistics prove otherwise!

MEMO TO SHERIFFS THAT JUST DON'T GET IT:
You want to get serious about fighting violent crime and reducing felonies in your jurisdiction? Then check the immigration status of everyone arrested.

After all, the priests say, the original "Sooners" broke the rules when they slipped into the state early to claim free land on April 22, 1889, ahead of the "Boomers," who stayed at border until signaled across.

These arguments are so tired and ineffective. The statute has long since run on events that happened in 1889.

The Rev. Michael Chapman and the Rev. Don Wolf could be of such great service to their parishonersif they would re-direct their efforts to provide counsel and assistance in repatriating their flock.

Originally Posted by zeezil

New twist given in defense of illegal immigrants
Last Update: 11/02 8:16 pm

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Two Catholic priests are comparing illegal immigrants to Oklahoma's early settlers in a new twist to arguments against deporting the illegals to Mexico and other counties.

After all, the priests say, the original "Sooners" broke the rules when they slipped into the state early to claim free land on April 22, 1889, ahead of the "Boomers," who stayed at border until signaled across.

------------------

"Obviously, it was the Sooner who came across before the Land Run of 1889 and staked out claims in the cover of night," Chapman said later in an interview.

"That was not following the rules. But we haven't forgotten them and we certainly haven't accused them."

While the "Sooner" tag carried a negative connotation in the state's early days, that did not stop the University of Oklahoma from adopting it as the name of their athletic teams.

Okay, let me get this straight --- waaaayyy back when, somebody broke the rules and were not punished for it.

So now, it's okay to break the rules because nobody was punished for it waaayy back then?

Tell me how that makes sense!!!!

Is this the lesson we're supposed to teach our children??? Somebody did something bad 100 years ago, so you can't be punished now because you did the same thing?

This tortured logic is amazing. We could carry it a step further -- once people owned human property (called slaves). They weren't punished for it!!! Does that mean it's okay to own slaves now???

Do these people have absolutely no brains?????

They're really reaching aren't they.

Originally Posted by CheyenneWoman

Originally Posted by zeezil

New twist given in defense of illegal immigrants
Last Update: 11/02 8:16 pm

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Two Catholic priests are comparing illegal immigrants to Oklahoma's early settlers in a new twist to arguments against deporting the illegals to Mexico and other counties.

After all, the priests say, the original "Sooners" broke the rules when they slipped into the state early to claim free land on April 22, 1889, ahead of the "Boomers," who stayed at border until signaled across.

------------------

"Obviously, it was the Sooner who came across before the Land Run of 1889 and staked out claims in the cover of night," Chapman said later in an interview.

"That was not following the rules. But we haven't forgotten them and we certainly haven't accused them."

While the "Sooner" tag carried a negative connotation in the state's early days, that did not stop the University of Oklahoma from adopting it as the name of their athletic teams.

Okay, let me get this straight --- waaaayyy back when, somebody broke the rules and were not punished for it.

So now, it's okay to break the rules because nobody was punished for it waaayy back then?

Tell me how that makes sense!!!!

Is this the lesson we're supposed to teach our children??? Somebody did something bad 100 years ago, so you can't be punished now because you did the same thing?

This tortured logic is amazing. We could carry it a step further -- once people owned human property (called slaves). They weren't punished for it!!! Does that mean it's okay to own slaves now???

Do these people have absolutely no brains?????

FURTHERMORE...you SHAM RELIGIOUS (Not!) LEADERS (Not!):
What does any of that drivel have to do with ILLEGAL ALIENS???

Uuumm...but the sooners were U.S. CITIZENS.

Excussse meeee.....

Here was something I found that was interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_america

The population density of Latin America is less than that of the USA! There are only 561 million people in Latin America. Since Latin America has more than twice the land area of the USA but less than twice the population, they have more resources per capita than Americans do! In other words there is no reason they could not have a per-capita income and quality of life equal to Americans, except their style of government inhibits it!

So invaders if you want prosperity, go fix your government and develop your own countries!!

Like I said in another post, if they cannot do it the USA should re-possess Baja California and fix the government there, and deport illegals to Baja to develop it for them. If the rest of Mexico does not get the message after that then we start re-possessing other Mexican states until they do get the message!!