Human Decency
Va. House Approves Bill On Illegal Immigration – washingtonpost.com
The proposal, one of nearly 50 immigration-related bills under consideration by the General Assembly, could force such groups as the Salvation Army and the Virginia Association of Free Clinics to verify immigration status before offering assistance to those in need or risk losing funding.
The software I use for writing these blogs requires me to choose what category each post should be filed under. I chose “Politics” for this one, but really — had I created it — the more appropriate category would be “Human Decency” or, rather, the lack of it as demonstrated by this proposal.
So, if a man brings his very sick wife in to one of the Free Clinics, the doctors aren’t supposed to treat the woman if the man can’t prove she’s a citizen? That’s just charming. Sure, send them back onto the street. And what if a person IS a citizen but just can’t prove it because all of their “documentation” is lost? Tough luck for them, too, I guess. Hey, when we’re all microchipped like poodles, this won’t be an issue anymore, right?
The members of the Virginia House of Delegates who voted in favor of this bill are a bunch of assholes.
Responded Kitty Hardt, director of program operations at Commonwealth Catholic Charities: “We don’t stop services to look for documentation.”
Good for Kitty Hardt and good for Commonwealth Catholic Charities. This would be an excellent time for people to make a donation to their favorite charity — be sure it’s one that’s not going to go all Gestapo on people who are looking for aid. (“You must show me your papers! Where are ze papers!”)
Let me tell you something: We’d go a long way towards solving this “illegal immigration problem” if we’d just quit distinguishing between who’s legal and who’s not. They’re all just people — people looking for work, people looking for a decent place to stay, people looking to improve their lives. EVERYONE should be protected by fair labor laws. Everyone should have access to decent medical care. Everyone should have a warm and comfortable place to live.
Astonishingly enough, many of the people supporting proposals of this kind identify themselves as Christians. Do they honestly believe Jesus would approve of this sort of thing?
Posted by RebeccaHartong on January 31, 2007 under Uncategorized
How can government compel private charities to do this? Do the Salvation Army and and the VA Association of Free Clinics get or accept government funding? Seems to me the Catholic Charities person has it right: bite me.
Hi Michael. Yes, that’s it exactly. The Army and the Clinics get federal funding — which is certainly a wonderful thing and I’m definitely in favor of my tax dollars going to these groups. However, the downside of that is that the government then gets the right to tell these groups (to a certain extent) what they can and cannot do. Obviously, that’s a sword that cuts both way. I like it that the government can tell the Salvation Army (just as an example, not that this is necessarily an issue) that they can’t discriminate against non-Christians in terms of who they shelter or feed.
As I’m writing this, I’ve just finished watching an episode of Joseph Campbell and The Power of Myth. (If you’ve never seen this PBS series, I truly can’t recommend it highly enough. You can get it through NetFlix, if you’re a member.) Anyway, Joseph Campbell said some things that I feel really apply to this particular situation with the illegal immigrants and I jotted them down. (Some of this is paraphrasing.)
The world is full of people who’ve quit listening to the humanist voice within them — people who pay attention only to what the system tells them. This is the threat to our lives that we all face: is the system going to eat you up and relieve you of your humanity? Or are you going to USE the system to serve humanity? You’ve got to live IN the system as a human being. Resist the impersonal claims of the system. Listen to the demands of the spiritual and heart life. Don’t align yourself with a programmatic life. Don’t submit to the demands of the system when those demands conflict with what you know is right and good. Your life evokes your character. It’s important to put yourself in a position where your higher character is called forth.
I’d like to hear how they intend to enforce such a law. To audit these agencies to prove that they’re eligible for the government funding would cost a lot of money. I think it would be more cost effective to keep the status quo.
This, of course, is in addition to the fact that I think the whole thing is bigoted and down-right uncompassionate!