George Weigel - An immigration debate primer

"An immigration debate primer" is a must read for Catholics like me who are concerned about the debate over illegal immigration. It's by Catholic ethicist and columnist George Weigel, whose syndicated column can be accessed here at the Archdiocese of Denver website.

Weigel writes that:

Catholic political theory places a high value on the rule of law, which it regards as morally superior to the alternative, which is the rule of willfulness imposed by brute force.

Hear, hear! The reason why liberal Americans like myself — people who shudder at the new Arizona law making "breathing while Hispanic" a dangerous proposition for Mexican immigrants, legal or otherwise — should insist on tighter border security is that the rule of law as Weigel defines it is crucial to everything America stands for. Unlawful immigration by definition undermines the rule of law.

Weigel:

The laws we make through our elected representatives are under the scrutiny of the natural moral law we can know by reason, which means that our political judgments should be rational, not glandular.

Catholic thought has always been "anti-glandular," meaning it is based on reason and reasonability. The "natural moral law" is basic to Catholic understanding: a "supreme and universal principle, from which are derived all our natural moral obligations or duties" (The Catholic Encyclopedia). It is the foundation-stone for reasoning about right and wrong in the political arena and elsewhere. (Nice to have in this topsy-turvy day and age, no?)

Weigel:

The inalienable dignity and value of every human being from conception until natural death is the bedrock personalist principle from which Catholic thinking about public policy begins. The dignity does not confer an absolute right on anyone to live wherever he or she chooses. A proper Catholic understanding of limited and constitutional government grasps that the state—which in the American case means the national government—has a right to enforce its citizenship laws and a duty to conduct that enforcement in a just way.

True, a lot is packed into that bullet point.

"Inalienable dignity": It applies to illegal immigrants, too. We as Catholics, as Americans, and as human beings are not to despise anyone based on their immigration status.

No "absolute right [for] anyone to live wherever he or she chooses": The inalienable dignity of every person is not a blank check to do whatever he or she wants. "The rule of willfulness" is suspect at both the national and the personal levels, in Catholic thought.

"The [national government] has a right to enforce ... citizenship laws": Though Weigel is a conservative theologically and politically, he's no extreme libertarian. There are things that a strong central government must do.

"... a duty to conduct that enforcement in a just way": Yes, must do. Justly, though — not (as with the Arizona law) a matter of "willfulness imposed by brute force."

Weigel:

With the exception of our Native American brethren, every Catholic in the United States today is the descendant of immigrants ... [a fact] which reflects the national tradition of hospitality to the stranger [and] should create a predisposition to be pro-immigrant within the Catholic community in America. That the vast majority of Catholics in the United States today are law-abiding citizens whose economic and social well-being is made possible by living within a law-governed political community should incline us to live that pro-immigrant predisposition through the mediation of the rule of law.

" ... predisposition to be pro-immigrant": Unfortunately, many American Catholics lack it.

" ... living within a law-governed political community": They (in my opinion) lack it in part because they fear illegal immigration's potential to undermine the rule of law.

" ... should incline us to live that pro-immigrant predisposition through the mediation of the rule of law": OK, let's be frank. Not just Catholics but many others worry that the rule of law has broken down in America's struggle to deal with immigration matters. So our "pro-immigrant predisposition" is taking a back seat to our fears.

Weigel:

It is absurd to suggest that the United States has become xenophobic, racist, or anti-immigrant. Last year ... the United States naturalized 1 million new citizens, most of them from Mexico, and over the past decade ... another 10 million people who have worked their way through the system legally. Millions more are in the legal immigration pipeline or are working in the United States with legal permits. If these are the marks of a racist or xenophobic nation, it’s a nation that displays its racism and xenophobia in very odd ways.

" ... absurd to suggest that the United States has become xenophobic, racist, or anti-immigrant": The U.S. as such is not anti-immigrant, but many people within it are. It's sad, but true — hello, Patrick Buchanan. So this is the only point Weigel makes that I'm not fully on board with. But I cheer loudly that over the last decade we've naturalized some 1 million new Americans a year, many of them from Mexico.

Weigel:

The canons of justice dictate that people should not be rewarded for law-breaking, and that is what illegal immigrants do: they break the law. Realism dictates that we cannot send some 10 to 20 million illegal immigrants home. The present situation—border porousness, which is exploited by criminals as well as by those looking for work; a large population of illegals; millions of people seeking U.S. citizenship while playing by the rules—is intolerable. Any morally acceptable solution to immigration reform will address all three facets of the present mess.

" ... canons of justice ... ": A nice Catholic turn of phrase, that.

" ... law-breaking ... is what illegal immigrants do ... ": Yes! Until we liberals come to grips with that fact, the immigration debate will stay topsy-turvy and glandular.

"Realism dictates that we cannot send some 10 to 20 million illegal immigrants home ... ": Suggesting that we need to get to the point where an amnesty (by whatever name) can be granted to those who are already here and are not otherwise in trouble with the law.

" ... border porousness ... exploited by criminals ... ": Facet #1 needing to be addressed.

" ... a large population of illegals ... ": Facet #2.

" ... millions of people seeking U.S. citizenship while playing by the rules ... ": Facet #3.

Weigel:

Responsible citizens who wish to be generous and uphold the rule of law and create a solution to the problem of illegals that doesn’t divide families or otherwise treat unjustly those who have ... “taken advantage of a situation we Americans have allowed to exist for too long” should demand that politicians stop playing the demagogue on this issue. Responsible citizens, while understanding the angers of fellow-citizens along the southern border of the United States who are appalled at the situation they face on a daily basis and while demanding that the government fulfill its duty to protect the border, will also appeal to the common sense of their neighbors who imagine that deportation is a real-world solution.

" ... politicians [must] stop playing the demagogue ... ": Yes, it's up to us citizens to demand they do, but how? This seems to be one of the most pressing issues of the age — how can we get our elected representatives to stop shirking their duties and pass immigration reform?

" ... Responsible citizens, while understanding the angers of fellow-citizens ... will also appeal to the common sense of their neighbors ... ": A synonym for "natural law" is (properly qualified) "common sense." We all need to employ common sense more than we do. Common sense more than anything else can rescue our republic from the wing-nuts.