Sunday, February 25, 2007


How about some positive news about immigrants for a change? In contrast to the recent anti-Catholic bigotry of the Washington Post and John Edwards' bloggers, there was a Post article about legal immigrants in England Saturday. Because the European Union has adopted the rather free market idea of interstate movement of labor, it doesn't have the chaotic immigration crisis we have on this side of the Atlantic. So many Polish Catholics have come to England and Ireland in search of better jobs. Not only are they legal immigrants, but they also are very hardworking and religious. In the process, then, they have given quite a boost to the Catholic Church in both countries.


300,000 have arrived since 2004, and it is important to realize that A) No catastrophe has occurred as a result, and B) this is an orderly process that the government can control as necessary. And many parishes that were declining are now standing-room only at every Sunday Mass. One migrant in the article, Monika Swierczyusko, reports that she works a six-day week in a factory, and then spends her only day off Sunday volunteering at her church from 7 AM to 9 PM(!). She adds, "I don't understand people who don't like to go to church." Isn't this the definition of an upstanding citizen?


Most Latino immigrants who come to the United States have a similar devotion to faith and family. Of course there are a number of bad guys who cross the border. But that's why we would do best to secure our borders and switch from the chaos that some Democratic County, State, and national politicians cynically exploit for political purposes, to an orderly system that will weed out the criminals. And that would allow the Federal Government to control the number of immigrants entering in relation to the employment needs of not just business, but of American workers. We should first be sure that there really aren't Americans who "won't do" this or that job. And if there aren't, then we shouldn't be afraid to allow upstanding, law abiding people of any country to find employment here and pursue the American Dream.


There was also a serendipitous aspect to the article, given the Lenten season. Another immigrant, Dominika Marszalkowska, is not only a devout Catholic churchgoer, but has a newborn child as well. The article mentions nothing about the child's father. I don't know if that was intentional or symbolically coincidental. It's safe to say this was a positive Easter story that James Cameron and the Discovery Channel would not enjoy.

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