The Cardinal, immigration, and Jews

Cardinal Roger Mahony spoke out rather loudly on this day, Rosh Chodesh Adar, which is also Ash Wednesday for Christians. He expressed strong opposition to a bill which passed the U.S. House of Representatives that would prohibit churches from helping immigrants unless they prove they are in the U.S. legally:


"The whole concept of punishing people who serve immigrants is un-American….If you take this to its logical, ludicrous extreme, every single person who comes up to receive Holy Communion, you have to ask them to show papers. It becomes absurd and the church is not about to get into that. The church is here to serve people…. We're not about to become immigration agents. It just throws more gasoline on the discussion and inflames people."

The Cardinal basically announced that the Church will ignore the law if it is enacted. I don’t recall any Catholic official ever taking such a strong stand on a U.S. political issue.

What is a bit surprising to me is that I have heard almost nothing from the Jewish community on this issue. We, the people who have had to find refuge over and over again throughout our history, we, who have been denied refuge too many times. No people in America who should be more in favor of easy immigration. Had the 1840 immigration laws been effect in 1940, we would not have lost six million Jews – but in 1924 the nativists convinced the Congress to reduce immigration from Eastern Europe, where most Jews lived, to miniscule levels.

Now, sentiment isn’t quite back to 1924. Most Americans know that this is a country that was built entirely by immigrants (even American Indians immigrated here 10,000 years ago), and appreciate the contribution that immigrants make. But there is a lot of nonsense being spouted by the anti-immigration side. Contrary to the anti-immigration proponents’ propaganda, there just isn’t much evidence that even illegal immigrants are taking jobs from Americans by bidding down the price of labor. And there is no evidence that any Mexican terrorists have entered the United States since Pancho Villa, 90 years ago.

What I think this is really about is the fear among too many that the United States might stop being a white, English-speaking country. If you walk through the parts of the Bronx where my wife practices medicine, you might think that that is a realistic possibility. But it isn’t. The 2000 Census reported that 82% of Americans aged five years and over spoke English only (itself a national problem, but that is another post) and another 14% spoke English “very well” or “well”. And 69% of the population is still non-Hispanic white. Visit rural Pennsylvania or Vermont some time and you would think that the fraction is more like 99%.

But why should we care? We of all people are proud to keep our own culture and language wherever we reside while in galut! There are still a few frum communities in which Yiddish is the first language. It is only fair that we support others who wish to keep their own ways – including immigrants from wherever. And some day we may need another place to go if Mashiach doesn’t get here soon.

This is not an endorsement of large scale illegal immigration. The U.S. can and should keep out people who are going to be a problem – both criminals and terrorists. But we should remember that much immigration to Palestine from 1939 to 1948 was illegal! The only real beneficiaries of the current system are the smugglers who take advantage of people who want to enter the United States, and the few crooked businesses who hire illegal immigrants in order to avoid paying a fair market wage and benefits. A real solution to the problem would include increased legal immigration, more lenient political asylum rules, better controls at the border with Mexico – and possibly a bit more compassion.