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Journalism of Courage
When it comes to immigration reform, there is no shortage of bad ideas circulating on Capitol Hill. Some, like the proposal to wall off Canada, along with Mexico, insult the intelligence. But none is more offensive than a measure the House passed in its immigration bill last December that would make a criminal of any American who, 8220;assists8230;harbors8230;encourages8230;or transports8221; an illegal alien.
In other words, it would be a felony for clergymen or Red Cross workers to provide humanitarian aid to undocumented immigrants, whether it be water in the Sonoran desert or soup at a kitchen in San Francisco. Technically, even soccer moms picking up their Mexican baby sitter at a bus stop could get five years in jail for the crime of transportation. To its particular discredit, however, the measure is aimed most squarely at Good Samaritans.
Fortunately, the Senate Judiciary Committee did not include this new definition of 8220;alien smuggling8221; in the relatively enlightened immigration bill it approved last Monday. But the fight in the wider Senate, and then in Congress, is far from over8230;
A secular objection is one that we ourselves have made many times before: It is not the job of ordinary citizens to act as INS agents. More to the point here, though, it should not be the job of INS agents to arrest human-rights workers dispensing water and other basic aid8230;
Rev. Luis Cortes, a Republican and the president of Nueva Esperanza, the country8217;s largest Hispanic faith-based community development group, told us that the smuggling measure attacks the very underpinning of Judeo-Christian theology, which is to help those who travail and 8220;treat aliens with fairness, justice and hospitality.8221; Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles vowed last month to instruct 8220;the priests of my archdiocese to disobey the proposed law.8221; It would, he said, violate 8220;our Gospel mandate, in which Christ instructs us to clothe the naked, feed the poor and welcome the stranger.8221;
Notably absent from these compelling protests are the voices of some influential conservative Evangelicals. A number have said nothing, or, like Chuck Colson, evasively called only for 8220;civility8221; in this debate. The Christian Coalition, meanwhile, has openly opposed immigration reform proposals 8212; like many in this week8217;s Senate bill 8212; that go beyond strict enforcement measures8230;
Morality aside, it8217;s stunning that anyone would support 8212; overtly or through their silence 8212; a proposal that would insert government directly into the affairs and faith-based prerogatives of churches. When we allow the government to tell priests, pastors and rabbis whom they can help among the suffering, we give new meaning to the word 8220;restrictionist.8221;
Excerpted from the Wall Street Journal, March 31
