Astonishing that a drunk driving case could serve as the context for anti immigration hate messaging. Those taking advantage of this tragedy having befallen a nun would do well to be mindful of the Catholic teaching on this (as would purportedly Catholic New Gingrich):
"When persons are unable to find work and support themselves and their families, they have a right to migrate to other countries and work. This right is not absolute, . . . [but] in the current condition of the world, in which global poverty is rampant and political unrest has resulted in wars and persecution, migrants who are forced to leave their homes out of necessity and seek only to survive and support their families must be given special consideration.
The Church recognizes the right of the sovereign to protect and control its borders in the service of the common good of its citizens. However, this is not an absolute right. Nations also have an obligation to the universal common good, ... and thus should seek to accommodate migration to the greatest extent possible. Powerful economic nations,[including] the United States, have a higher obligation to serve the universal common good, .... In the current global economic environment, in which labor demands in the United States attract foreign laborers, the United States should establish an immigration system that provides legal avenues for persons to enter the nation legally in a safe, orderly, and dignified manner to obtain jobs and reunite with family members."
The open anti-Catholic sentiments expressed in the context of this tragedy are as shocking as they are unfortunate.
In any event, immigrants have a decidedly lower crime rate than those born in the US, enhance our productivity, largely do not compete for the same jobs chosen by those born in the US and are reacting to conditions that we helped to create in Mexico and elsewhere. Moreover, they pay social service taxes for which they receive no or little benefit and significant state, federal and local taxes. They are reacting to economic circumstances that led them from loved ones and homes and deserve empathy rather than disdain. And last, but certainly not least, not one of those leaving the replies, unless they are of Native American descent, would be here without immigration.
So yes, I feel safe in concluding that those spewing anti immigration sentiments in reaction to this tragedy are driven by either genuinely racist feelings or, perhaps worse, a desire to divide Americans on the basis of fear and contempt.
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