The House legislation that Cardinal Mahony finds so odious, HR4437, will not prevent clergy from administering Communion or feeding people who show up at a soup kitchen. Rather, when religious workers cross the line and actively assist people in violating the law, they will be held accountable -- just as any other American would.

...The problem is that what Cardinal Mahony and others are promoting is not charity. Charity can only be given of one's own resources. In advocating amnesty for an estimated 10 million to 12 million immigration-law violators, as well as for a massive expansion of legal immigration to the United States, Cardinal Mahony is being charitable with other people's jobs, educational opportunities, health care and other resources.

The reason why nations limit immigration is because immigration has an impact not only on immigrants, but on the lives of people in the receiving society. In the geographic region of Cardinal Mahony's archdiocese, blue-collar workers have seen a steady decline in real income since 1989, which coincides with the onset of mass illegal immigration into the Los Angeles area. The majority of kids now entering the Los Angeles public-school system are classified as non-English proficient and, not coincidentally, the high school dropout rate is more than 50 percent. Millions of medically uninsured illegal immigrants have contributed in a very significant way to a public health-care system that is overwhelmed that the county has closed more than half of its emergency rooms in the past few years, creating the certainty that people have paid for mass illegal immigration with their lives...