That is the title of a piece by writer Brad Miner at The Catholic Thing. Miner asserts that the primary thrust of their interest in the so-called “comprehensive immigration reform” effort now being debated in Congress is driven by a desire to increase the number of Catholics in their dioceses. He may be be correct, but only partially, since he leaves out any mention of the payola the Bishops receive from the US taxpayer to ‘service’ immigrants in need of social services and jobs.
He says the Bishops are “apolitical when it suits them.” And, he does say they are farther to the political Left then some Democrats on immigration. And, they love Obama on immigration (that is me saying that, not Miner). But, Miner never mentions Caesar’s $$$$ that the Bishop need to survive!
I’m grateful though for one more voice saying that the Bishops are wrong (they are wrong too because they are doing a terrible injustice to the American working class in need of jobs and impoverished Americans of all races and faiths who could use their help!).
Here is how Miner’s piece begins (Hat tip: Judy). Emphasis below is mine.
My purpose here is neither bishop-bashing nor politician-baiting, and I have no reluctance in supporting an immigration measure that respects the rule of law and actually accomplishes the goals set down by the U.S. Senate’s most recent “Gang of Eight” in its Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 [S.744]: progress towards citizenship and secure borders.
However, my guess is that this law – which can’t even be rendered as a proper acronym! – will be about as effective as that monument to futility, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Marco Rubio’s career – he’s one of the Eight – may get a boost from . . . BSEOIMA, but as long as the border’s a sieve and Latin American governments are either socialist or plutocratic, nothing will change the pace of illegal immigration except a depressed economy in el Norte.
Anyway, I suspect Sen. Rubio, who is Cuban-American and speaks Spanish, believes he is the answer to the Republican Party’s recent electoral woes, and the GOP is just desperate enough to believe him. We’ll see how that works out in 2016.
And I suspect Christian compassion plays a role in animating both the politicians’ and the Catholic bishops’ concerns about the plight of Central American immigrants.
That said, immigration reform as it now stands is a baldly political business, and that’s as true of the bishops as it is of the politicians: votes for the latter; devotees for the former.
As for Rubio and the other Republicans pushing amnesty, for all of their efforts to get dead parrots to speak, it won’t even get them votes. It will get him money from big business for his campaign war chest, but Rubio has already been abandoned by a large segment of the conservative base.
For new readers, we have an extensive archive on the USCCB here.