Criminalizing Charity, Part 2.
On what the hateful immigration bills before the Louisiana legislature mean, Kate Comiskey writes in a letter to the editors of the Times-Picayune:
How can giving another human being shelter become a crime? That is reminiscent of another country, not so long ago, that made laws against harboring or sheltering an ethnic group they wanted to be rid of. They ended up killing over 6 million Jews.Amen, sister!
These bills are completely lacking in forethought, humanity or logic. They ask the local citizenry to become de facto immigration officers and threaten them with arrest if they do not comply.
These proposed laws will make racial profiling and discrimination legal for police and citizens. Immigrants, legal and illegal, have rebuilt New Orleans. Is this how we repay them? By kicking them out of apartments, refusing a ride to the store, and expecting the police to waste time attempting to understand things like I-20's, AOS, pending I-130s, removal paperwork and DS-2019s?
Don't we have a highly funded federal agency that was created to deal with this issue? I seem to remember it's called the Department of Homeland Security.
Shame on lawmakers for a hot-headed, childish response to a complicated issue.
Posts
4 comments:
Did she really just imply that bills such as this are going to turn is into Nazi Germany? Is she seriously worried that we are on our way to sending Mexican immigrants to the gas chamber?
If so, what a hysterical and insane overreaction. If not, then she is no better than the people who paint all illegal immigrants as thieves, murderers, and rapists.
Eric - I think cynthia is right here. This letter writer is not saying that these laws will turn us into Nazi Germany, but simply point out that in Nazi Germany, similar laws that dehumanized people and made sheltering them a crime for citizens was not part of a very nice social fabric. Pitting people against people in this way cannot bode well for interpersonal relations. I think that was the point.
I might agree with you if it were not for the last sentance of her first paragraph. If she had left it at our actions being "reminiscent" of Nazi Germany, that might of have been one thing (I still think it is a gross and offensive overstatement, but I can understand it in light of somebody being passionate about the issue), but she goes on to point out the fate of 6 million Jews in Nazi Germany. She clearly is issuing a warning or sounding some kind of alarm. Sounds slighly insane to me, but feel free to read it however you wish.
Yeah, Eric, looking on it again, I think you're right. I agree that last sentence of the first paragraph I cited is a bit over the top. It's not necessary to her point and is thrown out there rather gratuitously.
Post a Comment