Saint Monica Parish Hosts Discussion
Immigration: Myths Cloud Issue
By Ray Dyer
The Sooner Catholic

EDMOND — About two dozen people gathered Sept. 28 at St. Monica Church to discuss the hot button issue of illegal immigration.

Deacon Lee Hunt said he decided to organize a discussion and information session on the matter after hearing comments from fellow parishioners that “made my jaw drop.” For the most part the evening was informational. The       Shirley Cox and Father Tim Luschen chat before the immigration discussion. audience watched “Dying to Live,” a powerful documentary produced by the University of Notre Dame. The 40-minute presentation traced the often deadly path many people from Mexico as well as Central and South America are willing to risk in order to build a better life in the United States.

“You don’t leave your hometown if things are good,” one official speaking on the documentary said. “If things are good in your hometown, you go on vacation and then you come back home.”

Shirley Cox, director of Advocacy, Outreach and Education for Catholic Charities of Oklahoma City, provided background on proposed legislation, both at the state and federal level. Much of the proposed legislation has thus far gathered little support and that’s fine with the Catholic Church because the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops opposes most of the proposals. Well-versed on  the subject, Cox offered numerous statistics that appeared to poke holes in what she and the Catholic Church refer to as the “myths” regarding illegal immigrants and the resources they allegedly drain from state and local governments. Still, her argument made little headway with a few in the audience. “They need to stay in their country and improve it,” said one  gentleman. “They’re trying to change us.”

He left a few minutes before the end of the session, declaring he is disabled and unable to receive benefits. “Why should they get benefits if I can’t?” he asked.

Cox said the benefits argument is one of the myths attached to the issue of illegal immigration. She said the only benefit undocumented people receive is medical care provided at hospital emergency rooms. Figures produced by the Oklahoma Health Care Authority show the state spent  a little less than $10 million last year providing medical treatment at hospital emergency rooms to undocumented people. The $10 million appears rather pale considering it is part of the overall health-care budget of $3 billion overseen by the OHCA. And Cox said of the $10 million, the state was reimbursed 70 percent by the federal government, meaning Oklahoma actually spent about $3 million providing emergency room health care to undocumented persons.

Deacon Hunt said the Catholic Church does not support a Band-aid approach to the immigration issue, something he said many politicians are trying to implement. He said comprehensive reform is what Americans should be demanding from their elected federal representatives. Hunt has traveled several times to impoverished areas of Peru to offer support to the people there. “When I go to Peru I see the face of Christ in the people there,” he said.

Stories about reforms the Church would like to see implemented and facts about the immigration issue are printed on the following pages.