A Catholic's Response in Favor of Proposition 200

The Arizona Catholic bishops have issued a statement opposing Proposition 200( http://www.diocesephoenix.com/acc/againstProp200.htm ). However, it does not state the real reasons for their opposition. Those reasons can be found in Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility, published by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops ( http://www.usccb.org/faithfulcitizenship/bishopStatement.html#1 ).

In Faithful Citizenship the bishops show that they generally make no distinction between legal and illegal aliens. This is demonstrated by statements such as: " to care for and stand with immigrants, both documented and undocumented." Other statements such as "ensuring that public benefits  are available to immigrants" make it clear that the bishops want all aliens, legal and illegal, to be eligible for welfare.

In contrast, Proposition 200 requires the state to really verify that all applicants for welfare are legal US residents. In the event that a state employee discovers an illegal alien applying for welfare, the employee is required to report that illegal alien to Federal Immigration Authorities. Thus, Proposition 200 prevents the state of Arizona from using a "don't ask too carefully and in any case don't tell" policy when verifying the legal residence of welfare applicants.

There is no free lunch. Someone must pay for welfare. The bishops do not say anything about who should pay for welfare benefits to illegal aliens. In reality, most of the money will come from middle class US citizens. It is unfair to tax our middle class for the benefit of those who are breaking our immigration laws. Maybe the bishops would support eliminating the tax deduction for church contributions to help raise the necessary funds?

The bishops want aliens to have a greater voice in our political process. At least for the present, they stop short of calling for allowing aliens to vote. However, in Faithful Citizenship, they do say, "Even those who are not citizens are called to participate in the debates which shape our common life." Since they generally don't make any distinction between legal and illegal immigrants, it is reasonable to conclude that they believe that even illegal aliens are called to participate in the debates which shape our common life.

In contrast, Proposition 200 requires the state to verify US citizenship when someone is registering to vote and to verify the identity of each voter before allowing them to vote. In other words, it prevents the state from using a "don't ask too carefully" policy when verifying eligibility to vote.

Our nation is at heart a community. Citizenship represents membership in that community. The electoral system is the way the members of the community govern that community. It makes no sense to leave our electoral system vulnerable to those who don't respect our laws and/or borders. In an election, they will not vote for what is best for our nation.

The real debate is not about library cards or fire protection as the Arizona bishops contend in their statement opposing Proposition 200. It is about illegal immigration. In Faithful Citizenship the bishops call for "offering a generous legalization program to undocumented immigrants". While Proposition 200 is limited to preventing aliens from voting and illegal aliens from collecting welfare, the bishop's fear is that Proposition 200's passage could start a process which results in the long overdue enforcement of our immigration laws.

A person's attitude toward our immigration laws can be identified by the words he or she uses. Those that use "undocumented immigrants" instead of "illegal aliens" have a scofflaw attitude toward our immigration laws. This is not about paper work. This is not about people who have lost their green cards. It is not about people whose records have been misplaced by the government bureaucracy. It is about the millions of people who continue to violate our immigration laws daily. Proposition 200 is about two small steps to start enforcing our laws: no welfare for illegal aliens and only citizens will vote.

<>A few closing thoughts for the Arizona bishops, if you use the dishonest tactics of politicians, you legitimize them. This will weaken your arguments when you face similar tactics on another issue. Also, when you disregard our national community, you injure the concept of community in general.

Guy Spiriti