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    Senior Member jp_48504's Avatar
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    U.S. policy outdated, unjust toward working immigrants

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    By Bishop Thomas Wenski | Special to the Sentinel
    Posted May 17, 2005

    Last month's round-up of 66 undocumented workers at a federal construction site in downtown Orlando reminds us that "America's immigration system is outdated -- unsuited to the needs of our economy and to the values of our country. We should not be content with laws that punish hardworking people who want only to provide for their families." The quote belongs to President George W. Bush and was spoken to Congress during his State of the Union address earlier this year.

    The arrests of these "hardworking people who want only to provide for their families" did nothing to enhance our national security, which was the pretext used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in arresting them. Nor for that matter does the vigilante "justice" of Minutemen and other civilian groups that have taken the enforcement of immigration laws into their own hands on our nation's Southwestern border.

    Spending so much of our scarce enforcement resources chasing brick layers, housekeepers and waiters seeking a better life for their families should no longer be an acceptable application of our security resources in a post 9-11 world. There are, after all, real criminals, drug dealers and terrorists to apprehend.

    To fix the system, we must address both the future flow of immigrants into the United States as well as the undocumented workers who already live here. The so-called "illegals" are so not because they wish to defy the law, but, because the law does not provide them with any channels to regularize their status in our country -- which needs their labor: They are not so much breaking the law as being broken by the law. If the parties in Congress put aside narrow partisan interests and truly work for the common good, we can achieve reform that protects the interests of all workers, both immigrant and U.S. born.

    Real reform should recognize that immigrants are already part of our communities and provide common-sense rules for workers and employers. Many immigrants work in essential but low-paying jobs that most Americans pass over. They care for our children and elderly, clean our office buildings and hotel rooms, harvest and serve our food, and labor on construction sites and other projects in our communities. These immigrant workers should be able to seek a decent wage, health care and respect on the job from employers who may freely hire them without having to worry about legal sanctions.

    The U.S. Catholic bishops were among the several religious, labor, business and immigrant advocacy organizations excited to hear that President Bush had an immigration reform plan, first unveiled in January 2004. At that time we congratulated him for restarting the dialogue on immigration reform. Since his re-election, with his State of the Union address and his recent meeting with Mexican President Vicente Fox, we are hopeful the president still means to re-energize the debate over immigration reform. The re-emergence of "nativist" anti-immigrant sentiment that evokes the xenophobia of the 19th century "Know-Nothings" should not be allowed to derail the broad-based coalition for substantive immigration reform that is emerging among labor, business and faith-based organizations.

    It is time to acknowledge those who come to our nation, work hard, and contribute to the economic, cultural and social fabric of our country, just as many of our own grandparents and great-grandparents did. What happened to those 66 workers last month was not fair -- and it is not fair that, in the land of the free, thousands like them live in fear of a "knock on the door" in the middle of the night. It is only fair that these people who add to our society through their hard work should be valued, just as President Bush said.

    Thomas Wenski is the bishop of the Diocese of Orlando.
    I stay current on Americans for Legal Immigration PAC's fight to Secure Our Border and Send Illegals Home via E-mail Alerts (CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP)

  2. #2
    Senior Member jp_48504's Avatar
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    Last month's round-up of 66 undocumented workers at a federal construction site in downtown Orlando reminds us that "America's immigration system is outdated -- unsuited to the needs of our economy and to the values of our country. We should not be content with laws that punish hardworking people who want only to provide for their families." The quote belongs to President George W. Bush and was spoken to Congress during his State of the Union address earlier this year.
    Only 66 in all of Orlando? I think it shows that they need to work a lot harder.
    I stay current on Americans for Legal Immigration PAC's fight to Secure Our Border and Send Illegals Home via E-mail Alerts (CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP)

  3. #3
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Bishop.....your letter to the Sentinel shows why you are employed by a religious organization.....you don't have sense to come in out of the rain.

    The same process that allowed your brick layer buddies in allows the drug dealers in. The only difference between them is....the brick layers stole American jobs and deflated American wages stealing economic lives...and the drug dealers steal money from our society to line their pockets with the sale of life altering drugs targeted at our Nation's Youth and thus the Future of America.

    They both steal....they both harm.....they both destruct.....they are both illegal....for a good reason.

    Stick to saving your souls, delivering mass, taking confessions...and collecting money....things you do well and are licensed to do.

    Next time you write a letter.....just sign your name instead of your Title.

    You are meddling in a political process, advocating illegal criminal activity, urging change to a system that needs no change....only enforcement.

    You are critizing the very people in US Immigration and the Minutemen upon whom....whether you have the intelligence to understand it OR NOT....your Freedom to write your letter to the Sentinel actually DEPENDS.

    If you think you or your parishioners will be "happy" under Globalism....what you are really supporting.....then you need to WAKE UP, pull your head out of your robe, put your finger to the wind, test the sails, and say....OOOOOOPS!!!!

    Catholics.....you must take charge of your Church.....this cloaking evil and the end of the United States through this phoney benevolency of the Bishops of the Catholic Church....who I assure you care no more about the immigrant brick layers than the choir boys they allowed their Priests to abuse....has to come to an END.

    Catholics....I know you....I know where your hearts are.... I know where your minds are....you deserve better than this from your Church.

    The Catholic Church is about Money.....hold it back.....they'll come to you, THEN.

    What is happening here is not God's Will. God has been with the United States since our beginning...helping us to succeed so we can maintain Freedom and Democracy and help spread it around the World....while we've not been perfect, we've been better than any other Nation on the Face of God's Earth.

    Without the United States and the American People....Earth will self-destruct.

    Catholics.....Take charge of your Church.

    Our US Immigration Service, DRO and ICE don't need Letters to the Editor from Catholic Bishops CRITICIZING these public servants for doing their jobs in accordance with American Law, making these good public servants out to be the BAD GUYS.

    Bishop.....you are the Bad Guy.....you are abusing your power as a religious Bishop, paid and supported through a religious organization, tax exempt money, which SHALL NOT BE USED TO MEDDLE IN THE POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES, as a simple matter of Internal Revenue Code Law.

    You obviously don't understand US Immigration Law, US Labor Law or US Civil Rights Law....or even the TAX LAW that allows your "organization" to function in the United States.

    Next time you send one of these silly letters to a newspaper, just use your name without your Bishop Title....because your opinion on anything weighs no more than mine in the eyes of American Law....or quite frankly....the Eyes of God.
    A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation - Ronald Reagan
    Save America, Deport Congress! - Judy

    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

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