It is profoundly immoral for the government of the United States to deport anyone whose only crime is crossing the United States border illegally. Ostensibly in defense of families harmed by people who crossed the border illegally to commit violent crimes, the Trump administration has initiated crackdowns against illegals residing in the United States.
It is my firm belief that orthodox Catholics of a conservative political persuasion here in the United States have accepted this grave violation of human dignity, because the prospect of a Democrat, and their hostility to human life in the womb, blinds these voters to the moral problem presented by Trump's immigration policies.
There may be an elected progressive somewhere who would aid an illegal immigrant who had also committed violent crime, and I do not support the use of sanctuary cities for that purpose. Yet for the misdemeanor of crossing the US border looking for a better life, I would stand with an immigrant and defy the federal authorities, because ICE is currently under orders in that respect which violate the natural law, and the natural rights of human beings. If ICE returns to a more humane focus of arresting and deporting violent felons, there would be no reason to defy them. Crossing the border illegally as such is morally on the order of a traffic ticket, in my opinion. Most high profile cases of murderous immigrant trespassers have as the salient fact that they are also killers, not simply that they cross the border illegally. It is not that those of us who dare to question the "holy" Trump administration believe that the nation should not be governed by laws; rather, I believe in this case that the administration's erstwhile defenders simply lack proportion in justice.
We do not have to choose between the good of outsiders, and the good of ourselves. We are however invited to consider that those outsiders and neighbors are themselves people made in the image of God, even when such people tragically choose the path of crime and violence. I do continually ask myself in my thoughts how much of the anxiety about immigrants is due to the skin color of those who cross the border. The president did not refer to any of the Scandinavian countries as "shitholes," to borrow the notable vulgarity. There is no anxiety about bands of white Canadians crossing the northern border. There is plenty of anxiety about the fact that 40% of the US population will allegedly be nonwhite Hispanic by 2050. You'll have to pardon me on this one; I'm just "telling it like it is." And I'll leave you with this: Is America based upon a set of ideals, or an acceptable set of racial categories?
It is my firm belief that orthodox Catholics of a conservative political persuasion here in the United States have accepted this grave violation of human dignity, because the prospect of a Democrat, and their hostility to human life in the womb, blinds these voters to the moral problem presented by Trump's immigration policies.
There may be an elected progressive somewhere who would aid an illegal immigrant who had also committed violent crime, and I do not support the use of sanctuary cities for that purpose. Yet for the misdemeanor of crossing the US border looking for a better life, I would stand with an immigrant and defy the federal authorities, because ICE is currently under orders in that respect which violate the natural law, and the natural rights of human beings. If ICE returns to a more humane focus of arresting and deporting violent felons, there would be no reason to defy them. Crossing the border illegally as such is morally on the order of a traffic ticket, in my opinion. Most high profile cases of murderous immigrant trespassers have as the salient fact that they are also killers, not simply that they cross the border illegally. It is not that those of us who dare to question the "holy" Trump administration believe that the nation should not be governed by laws; rather, I believe in this case that the administration's erstwhile defenders simply lack proportion in justice.
We do not have to choose between the good of outsiders, and the good of ourselves. We are however invited to consider that those outsiders and neighbors are themselves people made in the image of God, even when such people tragically choose the path of crime and violence. I do continually ask myself in my thoughts how much of the anxiety about immigrants is due to the skin color of those who cross the border. The president did not refer to any of the Scandinavian countries as "shitholes," to borrow the notable vulgarity. There is no anxiety about bands of white Canadians crossing the northern border. There is plenty of anxiety about the fact that 40% of the US population will allegedly be nonwhite Hispanic by 2050. You'll have to pardon me on this one; I'm just "telling it like it is." And I'll leave you with this: Is America based upon a set of ideals, or an acceptable set of racial categories?
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