Stop deporting Catholics: A reader’s perspective

A friend of mine is Irish Catholic — in Chicago, what we sometimes call “proud southside Irish Catholic.” Church every weekend. His actions embody his faith. But southside Irish Catholics are not just religious; they also tend to have a great sense of humor.

Yesterday we were at lunch, talking about the news of late. The top U.S. headlines were about immigration. Specifically, they were about the increasing arrests and deportations.

My friend seemed to briefly digress from the topic. He related that when he was at church that past weekend, he passed a car in the church parking lot with a bumper sticker. He couldn’t recall the exact content of the sticker, but he said that it evoked the anti-immigrant sentiment that is currently viral in the U.S. (and not just the U.S., if you follow international news).

The thing is, he explained further: “When you go into my church, you are surrounded by immigrants. There are Hispanics to the left; Hispanics to the right; Hispanics front and back. And some non-Hispanic immigrants as well.” And reflecting back on the bumper sticker in the parking lot, he then said: “I want to get a bumper sticker that says this: ‘Stop deporting Catholics’”!

Now our group at lunch laughed at that, as was my friend’s intent. Only it then occurred to me that while the story was quite funny, it was also completely apropos. Let me explain.

First, there is an obvious truth that gets easily obscured by heated political rhetoric: Most foreign-born individuals in the U.S. — and the census reports over 22 million noncitizen immigrants, or about 7% of our total population—are not actively committing criminal offenses. What’s more, very few of them are committing violent criminal offenses. Yes, many people violate the law when they enter the country without permission. Does this make them “criminals”? In my eye, not more than the people flying by me on the interstate at 85 mph. A lawbreaker does not a criminal make—at least not in the truest sense of the word “criminal.”

What source do I have for my claim that most noncitizen immigrants are not actively committing crimes? That would be plain common sense. My friend perceives that he is surrounded by immigrants at his church. We are all surrounded by these same people in our everyday lives. They are working in every restaurant we visit; they are present on every construction jobsite; they make up the lion’s share of all employees at landscaping companies; they fill the ranks of the cleaning staff at the building I work in, and certainly in the buildings you work in. And I could go on. The food we eat? We may not see their involvement, but any cursory review of farming news or food processing is replete with references to immigrants. I speak regularly with the maintenance staff at my building, many of whom are Mexican. The crew that re-sided my house and repaired my leaking roof? All Mexican.

Second, with unemployment consistently under 5% for the last ten years — excepting the pandemic spike — immigrants are plainly not “taking” jobs from U.S. citizens. Economists consider unemployment under 5% to be “full employment.” There are jobs for those willing to work. Deporting Catholics does not foster employment — on the contrary.

Finally, I will not belabor the standard lines about immigrants being hard-working, inventive, and providing our society continuous growth and renewal. You may reject all of those assertions, and even still, we should not be threatening them with mass-deportation. Such threats are cruel. And such threats harm us as a people economically, socially, and importantly: morally. You need not be southside Irish Catholic to appreciate that.

Immigration policy in the U.S. has been a disaster for many years. There is much to criticize on a bipartisan basis. Writer David Frum did so in a wide-ranging critique of U.S. policy in a 2019 article in The Atlantic, provocatively titled “If Liberals Won’t Enforce Borders, Fascists Will.” I recommend the lesson, because it foretold the recent history of the Americas, where populations seem to be moving like tides on the sea. Of course, the moon does not create these human waves, but rather the rhetoric of U.S. leaders does. For at least a decade and across the political spectrum, that rhetoric has had a manifestly negative effect on our social cohesion.

Even still, cruelty is not the answer. Close the border — fine. Return people to their country of origin before they have settled — OK. But rounding up our friends, neighbors and those who provide us countless daily services? This is far too reminiscent of what dictators do in countries we rightly condemn. Such actions also risk destabilizing countries to which we in the U.S. have close and abiding economic and social ties, such as Mexico. If we don’t want our own house catching fire, we should not be kindling the abode of our neighbor.

In this spirit, I have ordered the bumper sticker my friend envisioned:

Stop deporting Catholics.

In a time of tumult, I think that my friend’s humorous phrase captures the perspective we need. If you want one, email me at [email protected] and provide me your postal address.

Stephen J. Rice is an attorney who lives outside of Chicago, Illinois.