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Story was biased piece on immigration reform, reader says

I am writing out of exasperation that once again The Criterion presented a biased piece on illegal immigration. 

While I doubt anyone would defend the current U.S. immigration system as coherent, effective or fair, to argue that the only solution is the massive piece of legislation referenced in the Nov. 8 article (“Pathway to Citizenship”) is intellectually dishonest. Moreover, to imply that not supporting said legislation is anti-immigrant, anti-poor or anti-Catholic is reprehensible.

I support immigration reform generally, and would have enjoyed an article analyzing the bill. While I presume Kevin Cullen, the author of the story, read the entire 1,137-page document, I am disappointed that the article fails to include any pertinent information thereto. In fact, the only mention of the bill’s contents came not from the proposed bill itself, but the interpretation of a 16-year-old boy. I wonder why the author never mentioned the millions of people waiting for admission to the U.S. Is it not injustice that others broke the rules and now demand citizenship? 

Any changes to the immigration system will have far-reaching repercussions. This isn’t 1900. The flood of uneducated workers into a country that no longer needs bodies to settle vast swaths of wilderness or armies of manual labor to drive the motors of industry hurts poor American citizens.

The jobs of television pundits, politicians, and well-educated Americans like the assistant dean at Anderson University are not threatened by uncontrolled immigration. The poor and working class are not so fortunate. They will bear the burden of amnesty, a burden The Criterion neglects to acknowledge. Catholic solidarity should not be so selective.

The irony of The Criterion placing this article next to a story regarding abortion coverage in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is rich. Many advocated for the ACA in the name of the Catholic Church, only later to realize the voluminous bill empowered the government to force the Church to fund abortion services. Cure-all bills with lofty names and even loftier goals rarely, if ever, meet expectations.

There is a long Catholic tradition of robust intellectual inquiry. This pure emotional appeal, devoid of any rigorous analysis, is an affront to that tradition. 

The immigration system needs reform, but the wrong reform could hurt many more people than it helps. I believe in God, but from man I need facts. I expect better from The Criterion.

- Jack Murtha | Indianapolis