POPE AGREES THAT STATES HAVE RIGHT TO DEFEND BORDERS

"States must treat migrants with dignity but have the right to regulate immigration and defend their borders, Pope Benedict XVI said on Tuesday.

The pope made his comments in his message for the Roman Catholic Church’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees, touching on a subject that has caused tensions between the church and governments in European countries, including France and Italy.

He said everyone had the right to leave home to seek better conditions of life in another country.

”At the same time, states have the right to regulate migration flows and to defend their own frontiers, always guaranteeing the respect due to the dignity of each and every human person,” he said.

He said immigrants had the duty to integrate into their host countries and respect their laws and national identities."
New York Times

Once again the Church walks the middle path. No honest person would say that if they were placed in the shoes of the Mexican that crosses the border illegally that they wouldn't do the same thing if it meant the survival of their family. That doesn't make it right. Countries have not only the right but the responsibility to make sure their borders are secured. Especially today, with the terrorist threat flowing from Islamic radicals, we must know who is coming in and going out and why.

We also need to understand that while, as people, but particularly as people of faith we have a responsibility to help the poor, we also have a right and responsibility to defend ourselves and our families and that right takes precedence. As the economy slips further into depression and the jobless rate grows in America, can we allow the Mexicans to come across and take jobs, often at slave wages, away from members of our American family that need them? I say no!

So we must treat the illegals humanely; that goes without saying. But we also must realize that turning them away is not an inhumane act in and of itself. We have to regulate our borders or we will see our sovereignty disappear, and our way of life along with it.