Hi Leila and Phil. On your recent podcast I agree with you completely about not getting into a shooting war with Iran even though they have substantially declared war on us. "Death to America". I have no love and even less respect for our President, and I fear he may follow the path of many autocrats in history who when they feel their grip on things beginning to slip, chose the path of war to make themselves appear to be indispensable. On the matter of immigration, I view it from the perspective of a bilingual teacher in Boston, Chelsea, Brockton, and New Bedford, where I would say over half of my children were seeking to become legal residents. I understood that I could not solve the fact of a broken immigration system, and I could not solve the reasons which led their parents to bring them to this country, but I could give them the best education possible under my care. In some cases that brought me very close to those families and their children in moments of joy and sorrow, and I even visited some of my students after they were deported. I think I understand the bishops desire to express solidarity with the plight of migrants. My relationship with them even predates my public school teaching. As an Episcopalian priest I visited Hispanic families in Walthm. the migrant farm workers in Concord, and the Hispanics in Clinton, most of whom were Adventists. I even remember some Guatemalans who were being helped by the kind people at St. Benedict's in Still River. We are talking about millions of undocumented immigrants. All I can say is that deporting all of the people trapped in that category is impossible. Instead we should be moving toward a solution which exists in the European Union, allowing freedom of movement between countries. I don't think our bishops are on shaky moral ground when they speak out against the practices of ICE.
David, Yes, the system is broken, has been for decades, and frankly both political parties have been more interested in grandstanding (and fundraising) on the issue than solving it. But again, the discussion of a rational approach to legal immigration can begin only when the illegal immigration is stopped-- or at least minimized. It seems to be that a willingness to acknowledge the problem of illegal immigration, and then to cooperate in staunching the flow, should be precondition for entering that discussion.
Hi Leila and Phil. On your recent podcast I agree with you completely about not getting into a shooting war with Iran even though they have substantially declared war on us. "Death to America". I have no love and even less respect for our President, and I fear he may follow the path of many autocrats in history who when they feel their grip on things beginning to slip, chose the path of war to make themselves appear to be indispensable. On the matter of immigration, I view it from the perspective of a bilingual teacher in Boston, Chelsea, Brockton, and New Bedford, where I would say over half of my children were seeking to become legal residents. I understood that I could not solve the fact of a broken immigration system, and I could not solve the reasons which led their parents to bring them to this country, but I could give them the best education possible under my care. In some cases that brought me very close to those families and their children in moments of joy and sorrow, and I even visited some of my students after they were deported. I think I understand the bishops desire to express solidarity with the plight of migrants. My relationship with them even predates my public school teaching. As an Episcopalian priest I visited Hispanic families in Walthm. the migrant farm workers in Concord, and the Hispanics in Clinton, most of whom were Adventists. I even remember some Guatemalans who were being helped by the kind people at St. Benedict's in Still River. We are talking about millions of undocumented immigrants. All I can say is that deporting all of the people trapped in that category is impossible. Instead we should be moving toward a solution which exists in the European Union, allowing freedom of movement between countries. I don't think our bishops are on shaky moral ground when they speak out against the practices of ICE.
David, Yes, the system is broken, has been for decades, and frankly both political parties have been more interested in grandstanding (and fundraising) on the issue than solving it. But again, the discussion of a rational approach to legal immigration can begin only when the illegal immigration is stopped-- or at least minimized. It seems to be that a willingness to acknowledge the problem of illegal immigration, and then to cooperate in staunching the flow, should be precondition for entering that discussion.