“Illegal Aliens”

When I was in college I did a lot of studying about immigration and had an opportunity to visit our country’s borders and talk with border patrol agents, immigration lawyers and judges, and stay at a Catholic Worker house that provided shelter to people who cross borders undocumented or documented.  It’s always been something that has touched my heart because I think the issue of illegal immigration goes beyond just the fact that people are crossing our borders without legal papers.

Basically people who come here illegally to work are not protected by any workers’ rights like we are.  They don’t get treated fairly and work under pretty horrible conditions.  But it’s better pay and the conditions here are better than they are in Latin America.  Without getting into a full blown political discussion about immigration and economy, basically I feel that because of how hard the U.S. makes it to become a legal resident and our foreign policy on NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreements) it has created this immigration problem for ourselves.  It’s very interesting in light of the newly declared sins by the Catholic Church that social and economic injustice are both sins. But at the same time, people who cross borders without documentation have broken a law and some sense of order must be kept to protect our country against the threat of terrorism.   It is also my personal belief that because God created this earth, who am I to draw a line and say that you or anyone else cannot cross it.

I was delighted to see that Tony Campolo wrote a great article about a possible solution.   So what are you waiting for? Go read it!