Letters

‘A Land of Laws’

Posted

I consider myself a good Catholic. I go to Mass each week and donate generously to causes promoted by the Church. Yet, I am castigated by other Catholics for supporting our President. It infuriates me to read editorials in CNY that denigrate Trump’s stance on illegal immigrants; he is simply enforcing laws that have been in place for centuries. We should all support his efforts to stem the flow on our southern border for one simple reason: If we allow one group of people to break our laws, then we will have no justification to demand others obey our laws. Suppose we give amnesty to every illegal immigrant currently in the United States. Then suppose there’s a violent revolution in, say, Yemen and 5 million displaced persons enter America illegally. How can we, in good conscience, demand they enter legally when we allowed millions of others to remain here illegally?

Historically, masses of people have fled their homeland for America for economic opportunities and because we are a land of laws. If we devolve into a land where laws are not enforced, we will find that our country is on the path to become like the countries from which the emigres were fleeing. I submit that the humanitarian thing to do is to enforce our laws and allow our country to remain the stable beacon for the tens of millions from despotic countries who are yet to be born. Many fellow Catholics look down their holier-than-thou noses at me because I am an uncharitable churl and have no empathy for the mass of humanity at the Rio Grande, but I say it is more charitable to preserve our nation as it is for the benefit of all future immigrants.

George Ganssle
Nanuet