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PDF versionUnlikely allies in welcoming the stranger
by Mike Sweitzer-Beckman on Jul. 29, 2010
In April of this past year, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed Arizona Senate Bill 1070 into law, due to go in effect this week. This bill is more commonly known as SB 1070, or in some circles, as the most draconian immigration law introduced in decades. Analogies are being made to Japanese internment camps, the harsh treatment that Chinese people received in the 1800s while they built our railroad system, and so many other groups of people who look different than the majority of those in power.
There have been multiple lawsuits filed against the State of Arizona, including one by a police officer who says that enforcing the law would violate the human rights of Latinos. Another has been filed in the US District Court by several organizations, including the ACLU, NAACP, National Day Labor Organizing Network, and the National Immigration Law Center. This lawsuit is saying that Arizona is trying to illegally circumvent federal immigration law, and is in violation of the First Amendment for profiling based on a presumed accent, among other constitutional amendments. The US Department of Justice has thrown its hat in the ring by filing a lawsuit that claims that the state is interfering with immigration policies exclusively vested in the federal government.
A Phoenix federal judge issued a temporary court injunction yesterday, halting the requirement that police check the immigration status of suspected illegal immigrants. But the judge left intact the law's prohibition on stopping a motor vehicle to pick up day laborers and knowingly employing illegal workers.
The law goes into effect just today -- though at least some of its provisions are stalled -- but it is already impacting Arizona. Some Latino congregations in Arizona have seen spikes in attendance of 30%. The prevalence of yard sales leads people to believe that brown-skinned people are either leaving for other states or returning to Mexico, giving up on the opportunity to live the American dream. (See As SB1070 takes effect, Mexicans say 'Adios, Arizona'.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has come out against the law, as has the National Council of Churches. Interfaith Worker Justice has created a toolkit for how people of faith can respond to the law, including rallying people to go to Arizona to work with like-minded organizations who are working for justice for immigrants. These are the sorts of groups I would expect to come out against this law.
NCR: February 3-16, 2012
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- US News: Bishops Host Conference on Immigration
Conference fields advocates' questions on law, policy
- Special Section: Deacons. Serving as parish administrator; roles of wives; and more
- Study: Black Catholics are more engaged
New study by Notre Dame researcher about parish involvement in America
What took me by surprise was when the owner of the Phoenix Suns professional basketball team came out against the law. The Suns wore their "Los Suns" jerseys in a playoff game and many players came out vocally against the law. It was a rare showing of taking a political stance in American professional sports.
The Major League Baseball Players Association has also come out against the law, saying it could affect many of their players' ability to play games in Phoenix against the Arizona Diamondbacks. There have been calls for Commissioner Bud Selig to move the Major League Baseball All-Star Game out of Phoenix in July 2011, but so far he hasn't budged. Several players have said they will not participate in a game in Arizona, including White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who managed the American League All-Star team in 2006 and would do so again in 2011 if his Sox advance to the World Series this year. San Diego Padres first baseman and perennial all-star Adrian Gonzalez has also said that he would not participate in an all-star game in Arizona.
This is a time of unprecedented legal action against immigrants for this "Yes We Can" generation. It's a time of unmeasured hatred against people who primarily want a shot to make it and to support their loved ones. However, it's also a time for great amounts of hope. It's a time for the usual suspects - great organizations like Interfaith Worker Justice, the NAACP, and ACLU - to be coming together with an unlikely cast of characters: the MLBPA, Colombian pop singer Shakira and Arizona desert-raised Linda Ronstadt. It's a time to collaborate like never before and broaden what it means to be church in order to stand up for our darker-skinned brothers and sisters.
[Mike Sweitzer-Beckman recently earned his master of divinity degree from the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkley, Calif. He lives with his wife in his hometown in Wisconsin and co-founded the blog www.youngadultcatholics-blog.com.]
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"unmeasured hatred against
"unmeasured hatred against people who primarily want a shot to make it and to support their loved ones."
What an unjust accusation--"unmeasured hatred." How judgmental! Unregulated, illegal migration into the U.S. has many ramifications for those entering and those here legally. This is not a "black and white" issue of morality. Unregulated, illegal migration to the U.S. causes problems for many, and is a more complicated issue than this writer seems to understand and to judge fairly.
I thought the article was not
I thought the article was not so much in favour of (as you put it Mary)
'unregulated immigration' but concerned with the paranoia and hatred towards those that often are refugees.
We have the same over-reaction in australia to refugees when our country could easily afford to take a lot more
adrian in Australia
Using words and labels like
Using words and labels like "unmeasured hate" is counter productive to this argument. Nobody "hates" anyone here, but MANY people are upset about 11,000,000 people going back and forth across the borders with some of the borders states taking more than their fair share of the burden dollar-wise as to the cost of all this. I noticed you live in Wisconsin; I'm wondering how you might view the situation if your "hometown" was dealing with a similar situation to the extent that Arizona is.
You're right about the immigration laws being antiquated, and that something needs to be done in favor of these immigrants, the vast majority of whom are hard-working and wonderful people who would make fine citizens! Maybe this fiasco in Arizona is a wake up call that the real responsibility for caring for and accommodating these immigrants lies with ALL of us, and that the national government has been unfair in letting individual states assume the burden of this monumental issue for as long as it has.
Do white people now fall
Do white people now fall category of those who "look different than the majority of those in power"? you know, people like Obama and Holder.
Now if these folks were
Now if these folks were willing to work for even less money so everyone could afford to have 2 or 3 around to do ALL the dirty work that Americans are too good to do, then they would be welcomed.
The answer to this law is
The answer to this law is twofold. (1) only citizens can have driver's licences & (2) all legal aliens until naturalized should have green cards. All citizens who can drive should have their driver's licences with them & all legal aliens should have their green cards on them. I assume legal aliens can have driver's licenses as well as citizens. Carrying these cards is no inconvenience since both are already required by law. A legal alien should not be required to carry papers. This part of the bill should be deleted.
So if a cop in AZ stops a person for a driving violation & the person can produce a driver's license, there is no need to check for citizenship. If a person can't produce a driver's license & has no green card then the process of checking his citizenship should begin. He should be pulled into the police station. It's high time that this starts in all states.
In all other cases when someone is stopped for suspicion of an actual crime (not being an illegal alien), he should be pulled into the station for a full check of idenity, citizenship, etc. This is simply good police work. Notice the lack of any need for racial profiling. Obviously as well no one should be stopped on the street for suspicion of being an illegal alien. This is ridiculous; it is not legal & it is not in the bill.
But rather than look at a common sense approach to this matter, liberals are trying to create a tempest in a teapot because they want the country to be flooded with illegal aliens. Eventually, they hope that the illegals will be granted amnesty & the Hispanic share of the population will increase thus creating more Democratic voters!
Thanks Mike Beckman for
Thanks Mike Beckman for co-founding a blog for young adults and your articles. I follow them with great hope for our future church. Recent attendance as a service with a woman priest in San Diego helped me appreciate the comments of Jamie Manson about small faith communities. I don't understand why so many young leaders with great theological preparation stay with the church. I suspect you are better than your elders at identifying with the church apart from the bozo hierarchy types on their power quests.
We are victims of our experiences. Recently retired as chief administrator of a number of Catholic institutions I admit a more jaundiced view of some of the "great organizations" cited in your article.
Living in an Arizona border town, I am unqualified to speak for 100,000 residents but I haven't seen any yard sales, or outwards signs of fear, or fleeing as depicted on national TV. Rather than "welcoming the stranger" I feel more like the stranger than the one welcoming. As a white person, I am a minority. Were I to seek employment, I would have to travel elsewhere because job openings here have bi-lingual requirements.
I am fearful when I hear major public figures state "you can build all the fences you want, make all the laws you want, increase the border patrol all you want, but you can't keep us out." and I believe them. I agree with the recent statement of the Bishops about immigration, but I see neither party willing to ake the risks necessary to deal with the situation. My great fear is that the floods have already breached the dam, and it will never be rebuilt. The border patrols in this area are reporting a new flood of Asians coming through our open borders. Will we handle that any better? I doubt it.
I simply cannot understand
I simply cannot understand the controversy over enforcing a very simply law. The borders of this country are not some arbitrary political construct, but are a result of 2 centuries of diplomacy, warfare and negotiation. They are firm and are not disputed by any power.
This nation is also a sovereign power, meaning it is the right and the duty to regulate who enters the country and by what means. The US government has the right and duty to regulate immigration, it is purely that simple.
Thus, this situation is NOT about "welcoming neighbors", despite the puerile attempts by some to distract from the reality that those who cross the border illegally are breaking the law. Pure and simple. They are breaking the law and they need to be arrested and sent home.
The issue here is not one of racism, it is not one of hospitality, it is one of the law. Illegal immigrants are breaking the law by their very presence in this country and, for the sake of the integrity of all of our laws, they need to be dealt with accordingly.
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