Morning Glory: the border and ‘Catholic social teaching’

This column is aimed specifically at Roman Catholics, their families, and friends who often hear that Catholic social education requires “sanctuary cities,” and even “open borders.”

I felt the same way as the left-wing activists spewing this argument. They are pretending to be pseudo-theologians, and they are simply and completely wrong and deserve no respect on this issue.

I’m not a theologian. Even though he has devoted a significant portion of his writing and broadcasting career to issues of faith, including his books In, But Not Of, The Embarrassed Believer, The Happiest Life, and Searching for God. It is. in America” (which was also his eight-part PBS series) is all about faith in general and the Christian faith in particular. I know what I don’t know. What I didn’t know until last week was the details of “Catholic Social Teaching” on modern immigration.

So I went looking for it and found summary Father Thomas Belz wrote “Catholic Social Teaching on Immigration and the Mobility of Peoples” on this very subject. At the time he wrote this, Father Beltz was Director of Immigrant and Refugee Services for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and his summary was used by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, a good indicator of its reliability and thoroughness. There is.

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Father Belz takes the space necessary to fully explain the Catholic Church’s core teachings on immigrants and how countries should receive them, explaining that these teachings are divided into three “core principles.” ”, which Father Belz reproduces with the necessary specificity.

First principle: People have the right to migrate to support themselves and their families.

Second principle: States have the right to regulate their borders and control immigration.

Third Principle: States must regulate their borders with justice and mercy.

The key to all three principles here is to see the world as it is. People are often forced to leave their home countries because they cannot sustain a life there. Think of the past decade of barbaric slaughter and civil war in Syria, and the millions of refugees that conflict has created. Turkey and Europe, overwhelmed by people fleeing the regime, were unprepared for large-scale migration from Syria and often responded poorly with ad hoc and hasty decisions. But the fact that these immigrants were fleeing barrel bombs and chemical weapons was a reality of that time and place. They had the right to do so, to find a safe place to live and protect their families.

Biden comes under fire for claiming that “illegal immigrants” “built this country.”

Another key point is that “Catholic social teaching” is built on the premise that borders exist between nation-states and must be regulated. Please read it again. The first thing to understand is that countries need borders. Although Catholic social teaching calls on governments to regulate borders with “justice and mercy,” borders must exist and be regulated according to Roman Catholic theology.

Since President Biden took office, the United States has almost completely abandoned restrictions on its southern border. The results were dire for many immigrants and many Americans. High-profile cases like the murder of Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus are just one of many horrific crimes committed by immigrants who entered the country illegally. Riley’s killer had also been arrested and released by American authorities before he killed her. Her murder didn’t need to happen. In order to prevent such tragedies and take care of the migrants we want to bring into our country through the legal asylum process, we must first understand who they are, where they come from, why they came, and whether we want to accept them. need to know.

While there is no immediate need for comprehensive immigration reform through legislation, I have long seen that along some 900 miles of the 2,000-mile passable southern border, there are either very large walls or two very large walls separated by a few hundred yards. has argued that a large fence is needed. On foot. When that wall or fence is completed, it will send a message to the world that the border is closed. Although it would help slow the flow, a wall is a “necessary but not sufficient” solution to the border crisis.

The solution requires changing the law, and the recent failed attempt (the third in 20 years) to pass a comprehensive immigration bill has left a key majority of Republicans in Congress because Democrats won’t build a “wall.” It was a setback because it was not possible to get support for it. ” and excluded from the so-called “compromise.”

It’s that simple. A majority of Americans across the political spectrum want a wall, so no bill will pass that doesn’t include a wall. House Republicans and most Republicans in the Senate understand that. They claim The Wall. The package did not proceed because it was not in the package.

Also, packages without walls cannot move forward. When James Lankford, a very prominent Republican and conservative senator from Oklahoma, brought back the best deal he could get from Senate Democrats to the Senate Republican conference, it was a bust on arrival. That “compromise” had many good features. But it didn’t have The Wall. Would it have been better if both parties understood this important fact? Before anything else is done with immigration reform, the wall must be built and fully completed. It’s that simple.

The wall is part of regulating the border “with justice and mercy.” U.S. authorities cannot control the flow of immigrants unless they are sure who they are and why they are coming. A “just and compassionate” immigration policy would explain the first principles outlined by Father Belz, but would also include the need to end human trafficking, explain where migrants go when they enter the country, and ensure They will also explain their guarantee to return for a hearing. The pursuit of work permits would drive back known criminals and cartel operators who flood the United States with highly toxic fentanyl and other banned drugs and substances. Among other needs, we must prevent terrorists or would-be terrorists from entering our country.

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This includes not only terrorists who are intent on killing, but also spies and “secret agents” from enemy countries whose mission is to gather information. The People’s Republic of China is truly an enemy. For decades, there were only a handful of “encounters” with Chinese immigrants at the border. In the past 18 months alone, the known number of Chinese immigrants has exceeded 40,000.

China is not a place to easily escape. Genuine fugitives should be welcomed in the United States because the Chinese Communist Party is an evil regime and people are actually fleeing from it, just as they fled the former Soviet Union. But the rise in the number of Chinese migrants crossing the southern border from a few dozen to tens of thousands in a matter of months is a major sign of apathy and danger. “Catholic social education” does not obligate any country to welcome into its bosom those who seek to destroy that country.

In short, this is a primer for Catholics or anyone who has encountered arguments such as “Christian education in general and Catholic social teaching in particular require open borders” or similar arguments. What is needed are borders “regulated by justice and mercy.” President Joe Biden has no interest in redressing this balance. But voters do. Unless the president returns the border to the way it was when former President Donald Trump was president, Biden will be eliminated from the fall election. Because Americans know that a country without real borders is not a country at all. It becomes a target of opportunity for malicious actors.

Hugh Hewitt is one of the country’s leading centre-right journalists. A son of Ohio State and a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Michigan Law School, Mr. Hewitt has been a professor of law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996, teaching constitutional law. Hewitt started his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990, and it is now syndicated to hundreds of stations and stations across the United States every Monday through Friday morning. Hewitt frequently appears on every major national news television network, hosts television programs on PBS and MSNBC, writes for every major American newspaper, has written 12 books, and has written for numerous Republican candidates. He has moderated debates, most recently moderating the November 2023 Republican presidential debate. He participated in four Republican presidential debates in Miami and 2015-2016. Hewitt focuses his radio show and this column on the Constitution, national security, American politics, the Cleveland Browns and the Guardians. Over his 40 years on the air, Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests, from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republicans George W. Bush and President Donald Trump. This column previews the major stories driving today’s radio programming.

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