Roomin' House Blues

Tonight, Thursday March 31st, at 8PET,   Kevin Appleby, Migration Policy Director for USCCB, will appear on “The World Over”, a show on the Catholic network EWTN.   USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) has worked very hard for a fair and just immigration policy. Justice for Immigrants is asking supporters of Catholic teaching on immigration to call in with questions.  Catholic teaching on immigration, while taking into account the right of a nation to protect it's borders, is primarily motivated by the churches teaching on social justice. 

A rizona legislatures have considered a bill to try to challenge the black letter law of the 14th amendment on immigration and have taken a step back at the request of Arizona business leaders. Senator Russell Pease, who has leader the anti-immigrant mob charge in Arizona  had a bill that would have issued different birth certificates to children of undocumented workers that to all others.  It would have formed a compact with other states that passed similar legislation to defy the constitutional standard of the 14th Amendment that all born in the United States become citizens and that only the federal Constitution  determines citizenship.  On of the issues leading to the civil war, besides slavery and trade policy was that states wanted to set their own policy on obviously federal issues including immigration.  After the passage of the 14th Amendment the courts ruled that only the federal government can set immigration policy-- pre...

"You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. " Ex 22:20. Ex 22:20 is the first of many places in the bible where kind treatment of immigrants is commanded by God or his prophets. Tomorrow we will celebrate a feast that began when a group of illegal immigrants (I prefer undocumented worker because I have never head an undocumented worker call themselves an illegal immigrant, but they  didn't have a document issuing authority back in the day) ran out of food in their new home.  The legal and lawful residents of the place, the locals, the natives, whatever you want to call them, brought food to these poor immigrants.  Together they broke bread and gave thanksgiving.  This was the first amnesty for undocumented workers. Perhaps tomorrow, when we start our thanksgiving meal, we can remember all those immigrants working in the margins of America, in food processing, farm labor, the ...