Cardinal Roger Mahoney
Arizona's new immigration law (S.B.1070) allows local police to question and detain any person about whom they have a "reasonable suspicion" of being in Arizona without proper documentation. But, rest assured, they will not interrogate a white, blue-eyed Caucasian tourist from Helsinki; they will be stopping and harassing Spanish-speaking Mexicans with dark skin.
Many Americans, from President Obama to Meghan McCain, have expressed their opposition to such a law; and, although the Catholic hierarchy is awkwardly trying to defend its behavior in its handling of pedophile priests, the U.S. bishops have stepped up to the plate in opposing Arizona's misguided legislation.
Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles did not mince words on his blog writing that S.B. 1070 "is the country's most retrogressive, mean-spirited, and useless anti-immigrant law." He called it a product of "totally flawed reasoning: that immigrants come to our country to rob, plunder, and consume public resources." He even compared it to "incipient Nazism." (Newsweek, 5/10/2010).
Although many religious groups like the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, including the bishops of Arizona, have taken a clear stand against such dehumanizing legislation, it appears many Americans are willing to tolerate this infringement on their rights because of xenophobia. Fear is a dangerous emotion when it overrides reason.
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