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United States News Title: Catholic church in middle of immigration reform issue HAMILTON — Nowhere was it more apparent than at St. Julie Billiart Parish Saturday, June 19, how much the Catholic church has placed itself in the center of the immigration debate. Inside the church’s bingo hall, hundreds of Mexicans lined up for passports or Mexican IDs at the Mobile Mexican Consulate’s Office. In front of the cathedral on Dayton Street, dozens of activists marched along the street with picket signs, some reading “Immigrants welcome. Illegals go home.” The Rev. Manuel Viera said the church for years has agreed to host the consular office “as a way to serve the community here, very much in line with the teaching of the Catholic church.” “We have a higher authority to attend to,” he said, surrounded by the organized hum of more than 100 people asking questions and filling out forms in Spanish. One of the main functions of the consular office is to issue consular IDs — issued by Mexico without concern for immigration status — that Mexican residents can use to open bank accounts or access hospital services in the U.S. “So at least they’ll now have some official government document to identify them,” Viera said. “The alternative is they’ll buy IDs from people who sell fake IDs.” In an open letter sent out last week, Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr, archbishop of Cincinnati, outlined the Catholic church’s controversial view on the issue. The Wednesday, June 16, letter states the church must respect national borders and laws, but “the Catholic Church also teaches that all human beings have a right to migrate.” The letter is critical of the current immigration system, saying there are too few paths to legal citizenship and those who are here illegally are left “living in fear, hiding in the shadows.” ‘Thou shalt not lie’ “I’m very much opposed to the Catholic church’s opinion on power politics and greed,” said Joe Macke, standing on Dayton Street with a sign that read “Viva Arizona SB 1070,” and waving at honking cars as they passed. The new Arizona law requires local law enforcement to ask people stopped in the course of enforcing other laws about their immigration status if there’s reason to believe they’re in the country illegally. Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones and state Rep. Courtney Combs, R-Hamilton, are working to pass a similar law in Ohio. “Any country that doesn’t protect its border will soon be no country at all,” said Macke, who called the consular IDs “an absolute farce ... because it’s not recognized as a legal document in this country.” The cards, called a Matricula Consular, are issued without any check of someone’s immigration status. They can be used to open a bank account and access other services. They are not a work permit, and are not recognized by the U.S. government for Social Security, welfare or other social programs. Macke is a member of the Southwest Ohio Patriots, which organized the protest. He said he has seen Americans lose jobs to illegal immigrants, and wants the problem fixed before his 14 grandchildren grow up. Down the street, in front of the church’s towering steeple, Hamilton resident and fellow protester Bobby Knight called it hypocrisy for the church to teach “thou shalt not lie, yet you’re supporting people who came here illegally.” “That’s theft by deception,” he said. “You’re taking jobs from somebody else.” Arizona-like law In addition to the protesters, other reform advocates met nearby Saturday at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel for the Federal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Coalition conference. Organizers of the sparsely attended event — fewer than 15 attendees materialized for an event billed to bring more than 100 — said they located in Hamilton because of the mobile consulate, and hoped to discuss the proposal of bringing an Arizona-like law to Ohio. It’s a “national security” issue, said Gregory Edwards, Ohio director of the FIRE Coalition. “My freedom and liberty and rights are being violated by the crime of criminal immigration (and) an illegal alien invasion of our border,” he said. “We do not support lawlessness,” said the Rev. Michael Pucke, pastor of St. Julie’s. “On the other hand, if a law is a bad law, not serving its purpose, it should be changed.” He said St. Julie’s has long served immigrant populations, be they German, Irish or now Mexican. Church leaders have expressed concerns about laws like Arizona’s leading to racial profiling and causing Hispanic residents to under-report crime. The church, Schnurr’s letter says, opposes “enforcement only measures.” “Too frequently we have heard stories where they (immigrants) are exploited by employers who steal their wages or fire them once injured on the job,” Schnurr wrote. “Too often, in families where some members are legal residents and others are not, parents and spouses avoid reporting being victims of crime to the proper authorities because they don’t want to be separated from their loved ones who can’t follow them back to their countries of origin.” Like those circling St. Julie’s with picket signs Saturday, Schnurr said the church agrees on a need for comprehensive immigration reform. “We just approach it differently,” said Father Viera. Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2175 or jsweigart@coxohio.com.
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