SHOULD THE CITY OF SACRAMENTO AND OTHER CITIES BOYCOTT ARIZONA ?..........

Tuesday night, a majority of the Sacramento City Council directed staff to draft a resolution for consideration and debate, as to whether the City of Sacramento should officially oppose the new illegal immigration law in Arizona. Some 80 persons spoke before the City Council on this issue before an overflow crowd in the City Hall Council Chamber, in both support and opposition to the idea, which if passed, will cause Sacramento City to join the City of Los Angeles and other municipalities around the country who have thus far declared their opposition to the new Arizona law. This is a certainly a tough issue, as illegal immigration into the United States is a real problem, but at the same time in addressing the issue of how to solve our illegal immigration difficulties, their are both legal and moral dimensions which need to be the driving forces behind any solution to the problem, not just politics. The bottom line is the constitionality of this or any law is essential, as is the humane and dignified treatment of the human person, in this as in, all matters. As the Arizona law is enacted, it allows law enforcement officials to question, detain, or investigate, any Hispanic or Latino person in the state whom they suspect may be an illegal immigrant. Thus scores of legal, native born, or naturalized Latino-Americans may well be held on suspicion merely because of their ethnicity, which is racial profiling and more than borderline prejudice and discrimination. Add to the current situation that the Obama Administration, like the Bush Administration previously, is stepping up enforcement and security at our borders with Mexico, and the President has proposed a $500 million increase in spending on border security, only to have Arizona's senior US Senator from Arizona, locked in a tight nomination fight with a Tea Party sponsored Republican opponent, declare the stepped up enforcement and spending are not enough !! So how much of this law and the issue of illegal immigration is politically motivated and being strategically manipulated for political gain ? Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, who inherited the Office, sixteen months ago and who is running for election in November, may well be supporting and advocating the law she signed as much out of political posturing, as out of principled promblem solving. And my greatest concern is not the politics, but the morality of Arizona's new illegal immigration law. Both common courtesy and civility, and even more importantly, our Catholic-Christian moral and spiritual values, teach us to uphold the inherent dignity of the human person, from the moment of conception to natural death. We are not permitted by our core beliefs to degrade, or devalue, the life whether they be young, or old, poor, or rich, legal, or illegal, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or gender. And that is applicable to the newest fetus in the womb, to the oldest living person in the world. So whether or not the Sacramento City Council adopts a resolution to boycott Arizona, in protest to this egregious illegal immigration law, the approach to addressing and resolving the problem that exists, must supersede politics and reflect moral and spiritual values, as well as the objective truth. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who is seeking a strong mayor form of government, also needs to show true leadership in this matter, which would bring some credilbility to his quest, by taking a firm, uniequivocal, stand - rather than declaring one position and within the same day reversing himself, due to subjective, self serving, personal, or political persuasions. That's only more politics and not principled problem solving. Let us rremember that the long decades of struggle against apartheid finally succeeded in large part, because much of the world stood up in protest through boycotts, advocacy, and persuasive power, sowing the seeds for responsible change to be cultivated by South Africans. There are proven lessons to be learned and objective truths to be applied, that can shape a consensus response to the problem of illegal immigration into the United States, without undermining the freedoms, liberties, and opportunities, of our own legal citizens..........Asking In This As In All Challenging And Difficult Situations, "WHAT WOULD JESUS DO ?????", Reverend Father Troy David Powers