My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Several articles ago I invented my own rules of the road, taking off on guidelines from the Holy See on rules for the road in a Christian context. Recently, an issue has confronted the State of New York regarding Governor Spitzer's attempt to issue driver's licenses to undocumented aliens.
Perhaps the first rule of the road is that no one should drive without a driver's license. In order to obtain a driver's license one must pass the driver's test, which is a good way to ensure that whoever drives knows the rules of the road and has some incentive to follow them since the issuance of the license depends upon it.
Unfortunately, there was a reaction to the Governor's proposal which was not unexpected. The New York State Catholic Conference issued a careful statement which explained the predicament in which we find ourselves in our country with undocumented aliens who are in the work force and who need to get to work, while at the same time giving keen consideration to concerns for the protection of our country against alien terrorists.
Only by backing comprehensive immigration reform will we address the situation that faces our nation, namely the problem of having 12 million persons in our country without documents. Having a secure nation is a good rule to which we must adhere, but how to accomplish it is in dispute.
Again unfortunately, one of our newspapers had a headline stating, "New York State Catholic Conference Blesses [Governor Spitzer's] License Law." The conference's statement in no way attempts to bless the law, nor is it our place to curse any law. The place of the Church in the public forum is to apply moral teaching, moral laws and the Church's social teaching to concrete situations. The Church's judgments are based on careful consideration. Of course, some judgments follow from unbreakable moral laws, such as if one were to cooperate in evil by allowing laws favoring abortion to remain the law of the land. This case of the driver's licenses certainly is not an issue of moral law, but rather is derived from an understanding of the social teaching of the Church.
As I have repeated many times in the past, the problem of undocumented aliens is a labor market problem. These aliens would not be here if there was not work for them in the labor market with employers willing to hire them. Certainly it is not the sole fault of employers that they need employees and that they find a way to obtain them.
When I did my doctoral studies for my degree in social policy, my thesis topic was, "Profiling Undocumented Aliens in the New York Metropolitan Area." The research took place in 1984-85, and actually interviews were done in Brooklyn as well as in other dioceses all over the metropolitan area, with clients who had come to our immigration services seeking assistance. There were over 800 interviews and an amazing profile was developed of undocumented workers.
The results of that research demonstrated that the undocumented are well integrated in the workplace of the New York metropolitan area. They work side-by-side with permanent resident aliens and US citizens. They are undistinguishable in the workplace from others. At that time, most had Social Security numbers that were legal and real, since a Social Security card was easy to obtain. Their employers were paying their payroll taxes and the aliens were paying their income taxes.
New residence policies have the unfortunate result of trying to drive the aliens from our country. We have driven them further into hiding by ignoring the laws which are there to protect them. One such instance is the issuance of driver's licenses. Again, the driver's license is only a symptom of a greater problem of not recognizing the social calamity we have in our midst. We have allowed persons to enter and have integrated them into the labor market, but now through sporadic enforcement of immigration laws we hope that they will leave and no others will come. Unfortunately, I do not believe that this is a workable or wise policy.
The history of immigration in our country is a spotted one. We call ourselves frequently a nation of immigrants and yet our immigration laws have shown clear racist tendencies that have been highly discriminatory.
In 1924, the McCarren-Walter Act, perhaps the most racist law the United States Congress ever passed, discriminated against southern and eastern Europeans by holding them to a quota from the 1890's before they came in great numbers. This favored northern Europeans and those from Western Europe. Only in 1965 was that highly discriminatory law overturned. This was a prelude to the new immigration law that we are struggling with. Already in 1986, legalization of almost three million undocumented persons took place, since the immigration law itself is not adequate to deal with the needed labor in our country.
In 1996, another highly restrictive law was passed whose intention was to discourage people from coming without proper documents. Unfortunately, its scope has not worked. In 2002, in the wake of the attacks of 9/11, the Patriot Act was passed that had highly discriminatory provisions aimed at aliens. Its enforcement has caused unnecessary family separation.
As an advocate for immigrants and, I believe, a student of immigration history and a researcher into the facts of immigration, I am constantly frustrated by the American public's lack of understanding of this complex social issue. Truly, we need to step back and study the facts and not listen to a biased media which seems to exploit this issue in order to gain ratings or to give certain commentators a chance to show their deep-seated prejudices against aliens in our land.
Another situation that we face today is the attempt by city and state legislators to enforce immigration laws or pass laws that are clearly discriminatory. For example, several cities have passed laws against the rental of apartments or houses to undocumented aliens. In effect this makes landlords enforcers of immigration law. Those laws have been found to be unconstitutional in some states already.
There is another movement afoot. Some call it the New Sanctuary Movement whereby certain cities and even some churches will not enforce immigration laws or follow any laws with the intention of protecting undocumented aliens who live in particular cities or who come to certain churches looking for sanctuary. Again, I believe this is a misguided policy. It borders on civil disobedience. I believe it will not produce valid results or change the root problem, which is the need for comprehensive reform of immigration laws.
As the Bishop of Brooklyn, I cannot help but be concerned about the well-being of so many aliens who are documented but also about the undocumented in our midst. The latest statistics show that half the population of our Diocese is foreign-born, and similarly, almost half the Mass-going population is also foreign-born. We cannot close our eyes to the facts that we are a society that has need of new immigrants but which struggles with giving them the proper welcome.
Each time I write about immigration issues I truly "put out into the deep" because it is usually the only column for which I receive much negative mail. Put out into the deep we must if we will bring the Church's social teaching and a studied knowledge of the facts in this area to the public forum.
Look beyond the media reports. Talk to your neighbors. Try to understand the plight the undocumented face but also the problem we face as a society. Our country must protect itself, but at the same time cannot scapegoat aliens as the only cause of our security problems.
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