by Becky Akers
Becky Akers is a writer in New York City.
The State is no longer content to be cruel by itself; it’s now insisting we join it. Those who refuse, and who continue to feed or clothe or encourage their fellow-man regardless of race or nationality, face fines and jail time.
U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner introduced a bill in the House last December called the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. Like all propaganda, the title is misleading: the bill seeks to control not only illegal immigrants but also born-in-the-good-ole-US-of-A Americans, too — specifically, any of us who: assists, encourages, directs, or induces a person to reside in or remain in the United States, or to attempt to reside in or remain in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such person is an alien who lacks lawful authority to reside in or remain in the United States.
There are a great many organizations that exist precisely to assist and encourage immigrants, government-approved or otherwise, organizations such as Casa of Maryland, which helps newcomers find jobs and learn English. Its executive director, Gustavo Torres, told the New York Times, We never ask for documentation. Our mission is to help anyone in need of service, regardless of their immigration status. We are proud of that.
Gustavo may pay dearly for that pride. The government could seize his assets and imprison him for up to five years, all because he practices the Golden Rule.
Let’s hope he accepts no money from the people he helps. The bill commands that when the offense — O, Leviathan! Who but you considers beneficial and voluntary acts an offense? — is committed for commercial advantage, profit, or private financial gain, the entrepreneurial Good Samaritan be punished with a mandatory three to a possible twenty years in jail.
Sensenbrenner wants us to think this will snag only smugglers cruelly trafficking in human beings, but his dragnet will catch lots of professionals as well. Doctors, nurses, teachers, clergy — all are guilty of accepting payment for their services.
The impact on churches and the folks they help naturally worries Bishop Gerald R. Barnes of San Bernardino, California, according to the Times. On behalf of the Conference of Catholic Bishops, he wrote Congress: Current legislation does not require humanitarian groups to ascertain the legal status of an individual prior to providing assistance. But the pending legislation would place parish, diocesan and social service program staff at risk of criminal prosecution simply for performing their jobs. The bishop fears that even passers-by who lend urgent or life-saving assistance to illegal immigrants could be tossed in the clink.
The Most Rev. Gabino Zavala, auxiliary bishop in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, sees another danger. The bill is unjust, he told the Los Angeles Times, because it criminalizes anyone who provides assistance to undocumented immigrants, . . . even family members.
The Feds tried this once before, with their Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. That legislation also penalized folks who weren't as venal, inhumane, and diabolical as slave-owners and federal officials, though its penalties weren't as stiff: . . . any person who shall knowingly and willingly . . . aid, abet, or assist such person so owing service or labor as aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape . . . shall . . . be subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months. . . .
Astonishing, isn't it, that a farmer living on Ohio's side of the Cincinnati River in 1851 could be jailed for providing a meal and a warm bed to a shivering, starving, fearful fugitive. Now, 155 years later, we find ourselves in the same predicament: the government threatens to imprison us for extending simple human kindness.
Where Are Your Papers?
Rep. Sensenbrenner has fed at Leviathan’s trough since he graduated law school in 1968. He descended on the Wisconsin House in January 1969 and the national House a decade later. He’s been there for the last quarter-century. This has imbued him with the statist’s usual faith in papers: if only the serfs are documented and fingerprinted enough, everything’s cool. Accordingly, he’s sponsored such dictatorial laws as the REAL-ID Act, which, when it takes effect in 2008, will turn driver’s licenses into de facto national ID cards, as well as this proposed legislation against immigrants who lack the proper visas. Nothing seems to twist his knickers more than the idea that someone out here might be running around without authorizing papers from the government.
Naturally, he’s whitewashing his newest exercise in tyranny as a way to prevent illegal immigration and re-establish respect for our immigration laws. Gee, those goals are worth imprisoning doctors and preachers for 20 years.
He thundered, Those breaking the law will be held accountable, whether they are smugglers cruelly trafficking in human beings, employers hiring illegal workers or alien gang members terrorizing communities. Note the shameless demagoguing intended to lull us into accepting such wickedness. Only cruel smugglers, the boss, and foreign gangsters will suffer — not the families ripped apart when a spouse or son or daughter is deported, nor the volunteer teaching immigrants English who refused to sic the INS on them.
The President favors this bill too. America is a nation built on the rule of law, President Bush said after the House sent this abomination to the Senate, and this bill will help us protect our borders and crack down on illegal entry into the United States. He also trotted out the specter of terrorism to justify this overweening power. Securing our borders is essential to securing the homeland.
But Father John Duffell of New York City’s Church of the Ascension knows what’s really going on. “The idea that you can’t minister to people unless they have papers smacks of Nazi Germany or anywhere with dictators,” he told the New York Sun. “It’s sad that we’ve come to this.”
Amen, Father.