Editor: Subscribers might have just gotten this post in early draft form since my computer is giving me fits this morning! Sorry about that!
This little story in the Napa Valley Register (St. Helena Star) caught my eye since I was just in the beautiful Napa Valley last week.
This is what the No Borders Left and their friends in the Catholic Church are trying to do everywhere—-re-classify illegal aliens by calling them “refugees.”
The word “refugee” has a very important distinction that activists like the Jesuit priest and his friends in this story want to erase and that is that a legitimate refugee must be able to prove that he/she is being personally persecuted for one of several reasons including race, religion, or political view and is thus in danger if returned to their home country. This might seem like a little point to make, but believe me it is a big deal issue for the Left.
Illegal workers in Napa Valley are economic migrants, not refugees. But, the Left (the Religious Left too) sure would like them designated as refugees so that they will be eligible for all forms of social services and will be given permission to work and eventually to vote here.
From the Napa Valley Register (St. Helena Star) (emphasis is mine):
According to the UN High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR), 51 million men, women, and children have been displaced from their homes due to famine, disease, or economic hardship.
Some of those are in the Napa Valley.
St. Helenans Martin and Rita Bennett invited Father Peter Balleis of the Jesuit Refugee Service to St. Helena on World Refugee Day, June 20, to speak to small groups of people.
Martin Bennett said his focus has become one of advocacy for those who are displaced, the so-called “illegals,” undocumented migrants who come looking for work in the restaurants and the vineyard fields. “The Napa Valley is unparalleled in its generosity to causes,” he said. “But these refugees are here, in the valley, seeking employment.” [Again, they are NOT refugees.—ed]
And even though they are not necessarily visible or perceived as refugees, he said, their plight needs to be addressed. “We can go where they are, find out what they need, and try to help,” he said. “And we can write letters to the State Department, to Nancy Pelosi, and to Mike Thompson, to encourage them to increase the budget for addressing the issues of refugees.”
I wondered if Pelosi ‘welcomes refugees’ to her California vineyard and found this 2014 story and photo.