Father Bascio presents a strikingly different perspective on illegal immigration from that of most Christian clergymen. He turns his spotlight on the harm of officially tolerated illegal immigration to America's own struggling workers in the form of joblessness, shrinking wages and poorer working conditions. African-American workers, already plagued by job discrimination, bear the heaviest burden of the illegal invasion, which locks them out of many workplaces or drives wages below acceptable levels. The chronic non-enforcement of immigration laws is no accident: Congress has little stomach for ending something so profitable for their most powerful donors and the voters they can muster. The author fears that many committed Christians are blinded to these abuses by their church leaders' preoccupation with charity toward illegal aliens, while ignoring the plight of millions of low-wage Americans. He deftly rebuts the self-serving myth of employers' and politicians' that illegals "do jobs Americans won't do." Bascio also sees the profit motive behind legal immigration policies that lure the third world's best and brightest to America, stripping poorer nations of their physicians, teachers and scientists. As a Catholic priest, the author admits the unpleasantness of taking a position not shared by his Church's hierarchy, which is driven by the prospect of rising membership. Bascio sees unchecked illegal immigration as having grave consequences for overall U.S. tranquility: disdain for the rule of law, street gangs, document fraud and identity theft, staggering welfare and education costs and creeping "Balkanization" that threatens the national principle of E Pluribus Unum. Father Bascio's book is a resounding appeal to Christians to re-examine their churches' conventional view of illegal immigration and consider the hardship it brings for fellow Americans and its dangers for the nation as a whole.
On The Immorality of Illegal Immigration
By Patrick J. BascioAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2009 Father Patrick J. Bascio
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4490-0185-8Contents
One The Immorality of Illegal Immigration..........................................1Two The Illegal Immigrant Component of America's Street Gangs......................23Three The Brain Drain: Immoral Legal Immigration...................................38Four Illegal Immigration's Impact on America's Black Community.....................59Five Americans Will Do the Work....................................................83Six The High Cost of Cheap Labor...................................................119Seven Illegal Immigration and Identity Theft.......................................134Eight Children of Illegal Immigrants: Their Condition..............................151Nine Illegal Immigration and National Security.....................................169Ten The Balkanization of America...................................................184Eleven Thoughts on Globalization...................................................193Index..............................................................................210
Chapter One
The Immorality of Illegal Immigration
It is not a pleasant task for a priest to take a position that is not shared by the hierarchy of his church. This is especially true when that hierarchy's motives stem from the gospel teachings of assisting the poor and those most adversely affected by political or economic systems. It is the function of the Christian church to make a moral judgment about economic and social matters whenever the fundamental rights of the person demand it. However, after examining all the evidence and listening to the voice of the American people, I believe that the Christian church, both here and abroad, has made a serious misjudgment, supporting a policy that has a long list of attendant evils. The Christian church currently favors an immigration policy that assists those who violate our laws rather than enter the legal process that leads to legal immigration. The Christian church, in some quarters, actually recommends to its ministers and priests that they break the law by helping illegals who break the law. The church's position disappoints those who play by the rules, placing legal immigrants and businesses that respect our laws at a great disadvantage. Americans are all completely in favor of legal immigration. That is how most Americans were lucky enough to live or be born in this great nation. Immigration is not a problem; it is, in fact, America's gift to the world. But, the simple fact is that illegal immigrants are unlawfully present in the United States and most of them are providing fraudulent documents and fraudulent identities for tax and other purposes. There are only nine digits in a Social Security number; that means that there are approximately one billion possible Social Security numbers. So, if you pick at random a nine-digit number, it is likely that you will come up with someone's valid Social Security number. The Social Security Number pool is a lottery where anyone can pick a winning number and it has no expiration date so, once an illegal alien manages to match a valid name to a valid Social Security number, it will be hard to catch him. In the meantime, he can cause untold worries and legal problems to the legitimate owner. Unfortunately, the 1986 amnesty law allowed the use of the Social Security card as proof of legal status. We need a system in which the Social Security numbers are secure.
Militancy
The year 2007 saw the rise of a militant mood among illegals south of our borders; a militant mood that insisted on the `right' to live in the United States whether we Americans liked it or not. This is boldness never before witnessed in our history. The justification behind such militancy derived, in part, from the approbation and authority of the Christian churches. Some of them were either accompanied or led by Roman Catholic priests. I do not question the sincerity and idealism that motivated these priests. I do question their judgment. In one of those marches, in the month of March, 500,000 people took to the streets of Los Angeles, flying flags and chanting "Viva Mexico," while 500,000 marched in Dallas on April 9, using (abusing?) the image of "Our Lady of Guadalupe" on those flags. The southwestern part of the United States, they claim, as they fly the Mexican flag, belongs to them.
And what generated the anger of these crowds of illegals and their supporters? It was, believe it or not, the "temerity" of the United States to decide for the American people who could and who could not enter the United States! It did not even occur to the marchers that nowhere else in the world would they be able to mount such a bold `invasion' without being resisted, if necessary by force. Their very lack of fear was itself an acknowledgment that the United States was the most patient and tolerant nation vis-a-vis illegal and sometimes violent entry into its territory. An invasion of twenty million people into the sovereign territory of the United States should have been responded to by demanding that the foreigners leave our soil immediately. If this demand were not met, it would be the duty of our president, in as humane a way as possible, to remove them from our territory, by force if necessary.
The Simpson-Mazzoli Act
The Mexican government became very upset with the Simpson-Mazzoli Act (Pub. L. No. 99-603, 100 Stat. 3359, signed by President Ronald Reagan on November 6, 1986). It is an Act of Congress which reformed United States immigration law. The Act made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit undocumented workers. The Act also required employers to check on their employees' immigration status, and it granted amnesty to undocumented workers who entered the United States before January 1, 1982. Mexico was happy about the amnesty provision, but very angry with the rest. The Mexican Senate responded by adopting a strongly worded resolution on "this grave matter that negatively affects our good neighbor relations," and saying that the Act would have a negative impact on the relations between both countries. The Mexicans called it a unilateral act that should have been dealt with and decided on bilaterally, even multi-laterally. Foreseeing that this might happen, and attempting to stop such legislation, in 1984, then Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid wrote: "The situation of Mexican migrant workers in the United States has been, and continues to be, of special interest to Mexico. We have reiterated our support for the rights and interests of Mexican nationals abroad. We have no intention of meddling in the legislative processes of the United States. But we express our concern over measures such as the Simpson-Mazzoli bill which could affect the social, labor, and human rights of numerous Mexicans, whose daily work and efforts represent considerable benefit to the U.S. economy."
For a declaration that begins by saying that Mexico did not want to interfere in our affairs, the language used sure strayed along the way.
The Christian leadership of this country, not really comprehending the wide-ranging problems connected with illegal immigration has blessed violating the sovereignty of our nation, depressing the wages of American workers, encouraging the growth of the most violent gangs in America, driving up black unemployment and draining the best and brightest of the Third World, leaving it...
