"Immigration" in Rochester

I go to St. Francis of Assisi Church here in town. Over the past few years, the politics preached from the pulpit has become decidedly more obvious and certainly more leftist.

The bulletin from Sept.21st is a good example. It details the May 12 raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) staff Agriprocessors Inc., the nation's largest kosher slaughterhouse.

According to the Des Moines Register article,

"Months in planning, Monday's raid involved 16 local, state and federal agencies, led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They executed search warrants related to criminal activity, as well as a civil search warrant for people believed to be in the United States illegally.

A federal search warrant said immigration officials have filed almost 700 complaints about immigration violations and criminal activity by workers at the Postville plant. The activity spans a two-year period, and some workers face multiple allegations.Federal officials allege that as many as three-fourths of the company's workers at the end of last year were using fraudulent Social Security numbers.

Last November, the search warrant said, ICE agents interviewed a former
Agriprocessors supervisor who said some employees were running a methamphetamine lab in the plant and were bringing weapons to work. Another source alleged worker abuse, officials said in the warrant. In one case, a supervisor covered the eyes of an employee with duct tape and struck him with a meat hook. The worker, who had entered the country illegally from Guatemala, was not seriously injured. He declined to report the incident for fear of losing his
job, the warrant said. Another plant worker told federal officials that undocumented workers were paid $5 an hour for their first few months before receiving a pay increase to $6 per hour. The minimum wage in Iowa is $7.25 an hour."

The church bulletin mentions none of the allegations, but offers these conclusions:

"As a society, we cannot condone detaining thousands of immigrants every year"
Illegal aliens, not merely immigrants.

"who pose no threat to public safety or flight risk"
No threat to safety? Sez who?
How about the young woman, Olga Marina Franco, an illegal alien from Guatemala (the same place as those detained in Postville) who ran a stop sign, hitting a school bus and causing a crash that killed four children, near the southwestern Minnesota town of Cottonwood MN. She was later convicted of four counts of criminal vehicular homicide. She was driving without a license.

Here's a list of "unthreatening" illegal alien drivers without licenses, and their victims.

A report by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Study found 20 percent of fatal accidents involve at least one driver who lacks a valid license. In California, another study showed that those who have never held a valid license are about five times more likely to be involved in a fatal road accident than licensed drivers.

"First, the nation needs a rational immigration policy that creates a path to citizenship, reunifies families and protects workers' rights."
We already have a rational immigraion policy that creates a path to citizenship. These people decided they don't like it. Reunifies families? Easily accomplished by moving back to Guatemala, no?

"Fourth, employers must be required to comply with the nation's labor laws."
By not hiring illegal aliens. Because it is illegal.

"The US Catholic Bishops have offered five principles that might guide us through to justice-based legislation: 1. Persons have the right to find opportunities in their homeland."
Good point. Why exactly do the economies do badly? Could it be the absence of (horrors) capitalism and the rule of law?

"Persons have the right to migrate to support themselves and their families."
They do? Where does this right come from? When was it granted? Is it a natural right? Why has it never existed before?

"Sovereign nations have the right to control their borders."
Except when it comes to the USA, however.

"Refugees and asylum seekers should be afforded protection."
At what cost? And are all illegal aliens now 'refugees', or does this issue have anything at all to do with illegal immigrants?

"The human dignity and human rights of undocumented migrants should be respected."
Meaning what exactly? How do you maintain the dignity of people who are repeatedly and brazenly violating the law? Do we not arrest them or detain them?


Please inform me, have the US Catholic Bishops always been leftists?