Bishop Calls Alabama Immigration Law Nation's 'Meanest'

By Greg Garrison
Religion News Service

(BIRMINGHAM) A new Alabama law that makes it a crime to offer rides to undocumented immigrants is the "meanest" immigration law in the country, according to a United Methodist bishop and respected theologian.

Bishop William Willimon of the North Alabama Conference called the bill, which was recently signed into law by Gov. Robert Bentley, an embarrassment and motivated by "intimidation and meanness."

Willimon and the state's other United Methodist bishop, Paul Leeland, wrote an open letter to Bentley and lawmakers who pushed the law, and also plan a vigil on June 25 to pray for immigrants.

"There's a lot of frustration out there, disappointment, embarrassment," Willimon said. "We will come together and pray."

The law includes a provision that makes it illegal to knowingly hire or give a ride to an illegal immigrant. A church volunteer who gives someone a ride to the doctor could be prosecuted, Willimon noted.

"One of the most nefarious aspects of this law is it appears to criminalize Alabamians in the act of being helpful and compassionate," he said, calling the claim that an immigration crackdown will create jobs "particularly repugnant."

Willimon said relief efforts following devastating tornadoes across the state have been hampered, with Spanish-speaking residents "reluctant to receive aid" out of fear of deportation.

"One thing our church is hoping to show our Spanish-speaking friends is that this law is not in our spirit," Willimon said. "We want the world to know that this does not represent the best of Alabama."

Greg Garrison writes for The Birmingham News.

Comments

[SureThang]

12:55 AM on 06/20/2011

This is a stupid law. How are alabamians supposed to know whether someone is legal or illegal? In other word, don't help any mexicans/hispanics or you could get arrested.

[jweider]

08:04 PM on 06/19/2011

Willimon said relief efforts following devastating tornadoes across the state have been hampered, with Spanish-speaking residents "reluctant to receive aid" out of fear of deportation.

Kind of the same way that addicts feel when someone steals their drugs and they can't call the police for fear of getting arrested.
Bishop Willie seems to miss the fact that the whole point of the law is to get illegal aliens to go home do that scarce resources can be allocated to citizens.

[P3]

11:52 AM on 06/19/2011

The "Book Of Jasher" (Chapter 19) mentioned in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18

http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/apo/jasher/19.htm

The citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah were mean, hardhearted and violent to strangers:

"judges of the people" seen to it that "when a poor man came to their land they, they caused a proclamation (law) in the whole city not to give him any bread, and if a stranger should remain some days, and die of hunger, they would take his belongings and bury him, so they did this to any one that came to them"

"Sarah sent Eliezer to Sodom to visit Lot, a citizen fought with a stranger and took his clothes, Eliezer said, 'why did you act that way to the poor man that came to your land' and he strove with him to recover the poor man's clothes, and the citizen picked up a stone and hit Eliezer in the head"

"Lot's Daughter's soul took pity on the poor hungry man, and she violated the law sneaking him bread, she was brought before the judges, the punishment was to burn her to ashes in the fire"

"And the Lord was angry at all the works of Sodom, for they had abundance of food, yet they would not sustain the poor and the needy, their evil doings and sins became great before the Lord, and the Lord sought to destroy them"

Luke 10:25-37, read Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan.

[scottyknows]

07:14 PM on 06/20/2011

That's certainly the talking point of the left in regards the story. Not the truth, though.

[St Juan Bautista]

02:11 AM on 06/19/2011

Where this people keep coming up with all this new laws suply, bring me a new law and I show you to new problems deal? humans can't keep up with nature, is always going to get beat by it, and if you embrace it, it become humans nature even worse, this ilegal alien thing if you want to end it change the name for "slavery in disguise" is a fancy name, do aliens realy exist legal or ilegal? or maybe they do when they serve a purpose, money, money,, money, money, a warning for america, keep sending guns to mexico and in no time mexico will do to you what you did to the indians, and take their piece of land back,

[ted1545]

08:11 AM on 06/19/2011

Doubtful. We are nation of guns and some of them are pretty big and some here have quite a few of them. Pssst, not really a fan of guns myself but you seem to think we should fear people from south of the border.

[Nightangle]

11:57 AM on 06/19/2011

You miss the point of history between Mexico and the USA - lands including good part of California, Arizona, Texas that were ceded to USA after the Mexican-American war, for about $15 million at that time.

It may not happen, but I do believe these "illegals" may really belong here, if only a sence of ancestral history.

[RobietheCat]

09:32 PM on 06/29/2011

re: keep sending guns to mexico and in no time mexico will do to you what you did to the indians, and take their piece of land back,

So does that mean they will give the land back to the Native Americans and leave?

[nuited]

12:22 AM on 06/19/2011

The law needs to be changed in regards to giving someone a ride to the hospital or taking the people to a shelter or church. What people need to realize is that if you come to Alabama there seems to be a lot of people working on jobs, plants and yard services among other businesses that have workers that seem to be illegal not from there looks or appearance but from some of the secrecy that goes on from hiding the workers. I saw a place where there was construction and the crew built a wall around the site about 7 feet or so where you could not look in to see them and when the crew was done the wall was removed and they were gone (ghost workers). I have lived on the border in El Paso and I really became aware of what is going on with immigration by going to a hospital at night and seeing the schools and downtown area where workers are standing there waiting for day jobs. We need laws that work and laws that are fair for all. The businesses that brought these workers over here are the ones that need to do jail time and pay all the taxes and profits they stole along the way. Cannot wait to vote out some pundits and elect some real people politicians for true change.

[LightShadow62]

08:10 PM on 06/18/2011

"Spanish-speaking residents "reluctant to receive aid" out of fear of deportation"

If they followed the proper and legal channels to enter the country then they have nothing to worry about. Of course we all know the people that are 'afraid' are not here via legal channels.

[Nightangle]

11:59 AM on 06/19/2011

Not so easy for the proper channels to operate these days though.

[thorrsman]

06:33 PM on 06/18/2011

Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's'.

Borders and nations are the creation of men and the control of those borders and nations falls to men.

[Kurfco]

02:54 PM on 06/18/2011

Employers need to be hiring from the ranks of legal workers. Churches need to be recruiting new members of their flocks from the legal population. Let's keep church and state separate, shall we. It's not the business of the Methodist or any other Church to be interfering with the enforcement of our longstanding immigration law.

[P3]

02:28 PM on 06/18/2011

For Father's Day, thought I would leave ya here with a song:

Clarence Carter~ Patches

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2qWcSjM-gA

"I was born and raised in Alabama"
"life it kicked him down to the ground, when he tried to get up it would kick him back down"
"on his dyin' bed put his hands on my shoulders and in his tears he said, Patches, I'm depending on you son to pull the family through"
"papa passed away, and at the age of 13 I thought I was carryin' the weight of the world on my shoulders"
"Every night I heard my mama pray, 'Lord, give him strength to face another day'"
"4 years have passsed and the angels took mama to a brand new home"

why don't ya read all the lyrics for yourself:
http://www.elyrics.net/read/c/clarence-carter-lyrics/patches-lyrics.html

[European1919]

07:06 AM on 06/18/2011

Everybody was clamouring for a law that gets to the root of illegal immigration: the good Americans who facilitate it by hiring illegal aliens.
Now that such a law has been enacted in Alabama, people call it mean.
Can't have your pie and eat it folks.

[Bobrobert]

07:10 AM on 06/18/2011

Nahhhhh...

Only mean spirited folks want to cause more problems for immigrants...

Christians welcome immigrants as Christ would...

:-)

[IceStar]

03:38 AM on 06/19/2011

Immigrants are welcomed by the American people it s the ones who are here illegally that are breaking the law.

I don't recall Jesus telling any of His followers to break the law. Please point out the scriptures you base your statement on.

[IceStar]

03:27 AM on 06/18/2011

It would be a better thing for people to come here legally. Then this "mean" law wouldn't exist.

I prefer people to obey the laws of my country.

[Bobrobert]

06:53 AM on 06/18/2011

roflmao...

Mean laws exist to make petty ignorant individuals feel better about themselves...

There is no reason other than evil to pass a law to punish Christians for following their beliefs...,

:-)

[Kurfco]

02:57 PM on 06/18/2011

Christians can ply their trade with people legally in the country. No church should be aiding and abetting illegal activity. Disagree with it all you want, but it's not your place to flout it.

[IceStar]

03:36 AM on 06/19/2011

Countries have internationally recognized borders and it is the responsibility of each country to protect its borders and citizens.

The USA is a country governed by law. The law needs to be enforced and respected. My ancestors came here legally as British citizens, and remained so until they fought the Revolutionary war.

The other side of my family came here legally, my grandfather had a sponsor. He had to live and work here a year before he could sponsor my grandma and uncle to come here on the Queen Mary.

They taught themselves English, there was no bi-lingual anything in the '30's.

There is nothing "mean" about enforcing existing immigration laws. Come here legally or get deported.

The law has nothing to do with religion. It is simply the law, it is blind justice.

[Bobrobert]

06:57 AM on 06/18/2011

I prefer the biblical way...

Love illegal immigrants like God does...

:-)

[jweider]

08:13 PM on 06/19/2011

If god loved them he would make them want to stay in their own country.

[KNC]

10:34 PM on 06/17/2011

Illegal or not illegal, what does it really matter? We are all human and will never need a passport to go to heaven. This law is all crap, if they come here illegally it's because they struggle worse than we americans do. We send money and supplies to other countries who can barely survive, why are they any differant? I know for a fact that the majority of mexicans work here and send money home to build them a home so that when it's built they can go home and have a roof over their heads, so they aren't stealing our jobs we give our jobs to them because americans are lazy, they know that the government will take care of them if they can't provide. If they cause crimes yes they should be in prison, otherwise they ain't hurting anyone to be here. Also whatever pay check they recieve it is taxed. Only God is allow to judge.

[St Juan Bautista]

01:23 PM on 06/19/2011

Hey way to go brother, yeah we are all human but very few act like humans do, is all about money, one ilegal worker $ 60 or 70 for one day's work 8 to 12 hours. on the american side you need $ 300 to mach this either you get two employes to do the job $ 150 each or 3 for $ 100 each, and no only that but the ilegal will be realy realy happy, but the americans will never be.... peace

[ZZPOT]

09:48 PM on 06/17/2011

I wish for once the media would get the facts straight. None of this is about immigration. It's about illegal aliens. Which part of illegal don't they understand? These are people who are already here illegally. The are law breakers & want to cut in line ahead of those who have chosen to immigrate legally. Like the State Law in AZ, which is almost identical to the Federal Law, which for some reason the Feds refuse to enforce.

[Nabil Muhammad]

05:22 AM on 06/18/2011

which facts aren't straight? was the Article about immigration or about a provision on the Bill?

[TYRANNASAURUS]

07:30 PM on 06/17/2011

Bishop Calls Alabama Immigration Law Nation's 'Meanest' ...

If Bishops are going to voice and try to interfere with government laws maybe the religious organizations should start paying taxes....we have to pay for our voices with taxes.

[Bobrobert]

07:01 AM on 06/18/2011

Taxes are such a joke...

Just pay them and enjoy being free...

Love your neighbor and your blood pressure will go down!!!

:-)

[TYRANNASAURUS]

11:02 AM on 06/19/2011

My blood pressure has been 120's over 60's all my life.....what's yours?

[RobietheCat]

09:36 PM on 06/29/2011

So when is this Bishop going to start melting down all the church's gold to feed the poor?

When will the Church start selling their property to feed the poor.

Oh, that's right, they went BK so they wouldn't have to pay for all the child molestation lawsuits of their priests.

Why should I listen to them?

[Just-a-Guy]

05:56 PM on 06/17/2011

So we should allow illegal immigration because "it would be mean" not to???

Really?

You guys have gone way off the deep end.

[Nabil Muhammad]

03:31 AM on 06/18/2011

is that what the Bishop was saying?

[Bobrobert]

06:55 AM on 06/18/2011

Jesus loves the illegal immigrant...

Christians are required to love the illegal immigrant...

Mean people just want to spread their own hate...

:-)

[surferlaments]

12:35 AM on 06/19/2011

actually, Christ said to obey the laws of the land. this is not about being mean spirited, this is about obeying the laws of the land. just to make sure we are talking about the same Christ.... mine has a first name and it is Jesus.

[IceStar]

03:47 AM on 06/19/2011

Yes Jesus loves sinners, law breakers, etc.

What does that have to do with being held responsible and accountable for the CHOICE of breaking the immigration laws of this nation?

Where is the "love" those who break the law by being here in my country illegally? Where is the respect for me and my country that my ancestors created with their own blood and sweat?

Here is what I have to say: When your visa says go home, leave, do not come here illegally, period.