It is mordantly amusing to listen to progressives on MSNBC bemoan the incursion of ICE into the “sanctuary” of churches attempting to extend their invisible force field around illegal immigrants. These are the same people who have shown no respect or reverence for Americans who assert their religious beliefs regarding, to take one infamous example, compelled speech.
In the case of church sanctuary, they are oh, a couple centuries behind the times. Allowing a church to harbor criminals and others sought by the state is a tradition that goes back to Roman times, and here and there it has been bolstered by the law. Not here and now however. The tradition makes no sense in modern times, and if churches have no legal grounds to protect lawbreakers, the claims of so-called sanctuary cities and states are weaker still.
The political and ideological Left has dashed itself on the rocks of illegal immigration, and based on some of the talking head nonsense I saw on MSNBC and CNN today, they are still dashing. When they are not crying “Think of the children!” (Note: law-breaking parents who put their children in untenable positions by their parents’ conduct are 100% accountable for those children’s plight) the apologists for illegal border-crossers are asserting that they are “human beings” and deserve to “have their humanity respected and recognized.” That’s fine: nobody denies that they are human beings. They are also human beings who do not belong in the United States.
This, for some strange reason, seems difficult for some progressives and Axis hacks to grasp. One of the two women I saw rending their garments over the Trump deportation policy, stuttered, babbled, shrugged, sighed and finally said, “I just can’t believe that this is happening! It’s so cruel!” Her partner in absurd “Good Illegal Immigrant” rhetoric nodded and agreed that deporting illegal immigrants who weren’t violent criminals is a violation of human rights.
There is apparently, according to these revolutionaries, a human right to live anywhere you want to. This is pure “Imagine-ism,” probably caused by hearing John Lennon’s fatuous paean to brainless utopianism one time too many. Both women also bemoaned the “collateral damage” of deportations. All law enforcement has “collateral damage” to families and others who depend on the law-breakers. That is a reason not to break laws, not to stop enforcing them.
***
Bonus cultural literacy quiz: Who is that lovely young actress playing Esmeralda in that clip from “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”? No cheating, now: this is an ethics blog…
Ethics Alarms 
I admit, I don’t know the actress. But I will take a nod to a Michael York, “There is no Sanctuary!”
Is that Vivian Gish or something-or-other Gish? The actress? Lilian Fish or something?
Hedy Lamarr
Dang! I now realize who it is.
In the case of church sanctuary, they are oh, a couple centuries behind the times.
Ancient Israel did not go that far.
Yes, they provided for cities where people accused of manslaughter can seek refuge.
And they allowed those accused of manslaughter to hold on the the Lord God haShem’s altar to avoid being brought to trial.
But for premeditated murder, there was no sanctuary.
All law enforcement has “collateral damage” to families and others who depend on the law-breakers.
Do you remember Tom Fallon?
https://archive.md/HPn6E
Why was it fair to separate him from his family?
How could it be fair?
Is the actress someone who also appeared in some movies with John Wayne?
Ah. Yep. Maureen O’Hara. That’s what I get for guessing with the phone silent and the screen tiny.
I’ve written about Maureen before. She was the female star of four certified classics—that film, How Green Was My Valley, The Quiet Man, and, of course, Miracle on 34th Street. Plus half a classic point for the original “The Parent Trap.” Somehow she has never been regarded as a major star, yet bigger ones can’t match her record. Very unfair.
Now, who was the makeup artist who turned Charles Laughton into the Hunchback?
Aren’t these the same people who cheered when ministers and parishioners were arrested in their own sancuntuaries for merely daring to worship?
Yes, they are.
They also whine about gang violence and school shootings and lack of universal health care as unique to the U.S..
Which raiases the question of why they do not warn migrants to stay away?
Amen. Amen. Amen. These are the same people who want to go to Canada or the U.K. and yet they want maids and construction workers and farm workers to come here.
And yes, Michael R. Absolutely. These people wanting churches turned into Alamos for criminals are the same people who sneer at organized religion and its practitioners. But now churches are handy because Trump!
I am sick to death about the separating families argument. What is stopping the family members going with the deportee.
Scenario 1
Two people enter US illegally and have a child. Deporting the parents does not require that the child remain in the US as a dual citizen. If my father was transferred to another state for work by his employer, as a child, I don’t get a say in where I will reside.
Scenario 2.
Person enters legally and obtains green card or is naturalized. A relative enters illegally and is subject to deportation. The family separation occurred when part of the family emigrated legally to the US. Thus, the separation occurred while in their native country so the onus is on the people leaving the native land for the separation.
Do you remember Tom Fallon?
https://archive.md/HPn6E
Why was it fair to separate him from his family?
Why wouldn’t it be?
I will post the text of the article.
https://archive.md/HPn6E
Long Beach man gets 10 years in prison for embezzling injured workers’ funds, using some to open cigar shop
Orange County Register associate Nathan Percy.
Additional Information: Mugs.1113 Photo by Nick Koon /Staff Photographer.
By Nathaniel Percy | npercy@scng.com | Southern California News Group
UPDATED: July 19, 2019 at 4:30 PM PDT
A Long Beach man was sentenced this week to more than 10 years in state prison for embezzling nearly $1 million from victims who wanted to invest money they received after workplace accidents.
Tom Fallon, 65, pleaded no contest in May and was convicted of 15 felony counts of money laundering and 10 felony counts of grand theft by embezzlement, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said on Friday, July 19.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Daniel Lowenthal handed down the sentence Thursday, July 18, and ordered Fallon to pay back the money he stole to the 12 victims, prosecutors said.
Tom Fallon, 53, of Long Beach, was sentenced Thursday, July 18, to more than 10 years in state prison for embezzling nearly $1 million from 12 victims who invested their workers’ compensation funds with his company. (File Photo)
Fallon had a company, Fortis Financial Insurance Services, that provided investment management of workers’ compensation funds from clients. He used a series of transactions to reroute money that was supposed to be invested, Deputy District Attorney Lucrezia Pratico said.
Fallon transferred funds to his personal accounts, using some to open a cigar shop in Naples called Big Daddy Cigar Lounge, investigators said.
By doing so, he left the victims at risk by taking the resources they needed for medical treatment, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said when charges were filed in July 2017.
A couple, among the 12 victims, became suspicious when a check from Fallon was returned because of insufficient funds in December 2014, Jones said.
The couple filed a request for assistance with the California Department of Insurance Consumer Services Division, which led to a criminal investigation.
Fallon’s daughter, 30-year-old Christina Fallon, also faced similar charges, but they were dropped in April, according to court records.
I’m guessing your point is that people convicted of crimes are separated from their kids all the time…in fact, every time. Heck, even when someone is arrested, he/she is separated from the kids. Sometimes the kids are right there – in the house or in the car – and the parent is taken away in cuffs. This whole “we’re breaking up families!” nonsense is just that…nonsense. It happens every minute of every day to citizens of the United States. Why should illegal immigrants get special treatment?!?
Special treatment? You mean like the special treatment where illegal aliens were imported by the Biden administration on airplanes from foreign countries, put up in nice hotels, and given prepaid cards with $10,000+ on them while American citizens were reduced to seeking shelter in caves or sheds for months after a hurricane because the federal agency didn’t have funds in that specific account and they couldn’t be bothered to do a transfer for them? You mean special treatment like that?
Well, Chicago kicked it up a notch:
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1884966905150325232
Wow. And I thought electing social workers as mayors and governors was a bad idea. How about teachers and their union reps!