Charity: It's Not Only Business that Government Gets in the Way Of

Asylum seekers arrive at the Catholic Charities
Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, TX (WSJ)

It is a 2,000-year-old conundrum: how to be a Christian in a secular world.

Not only must individuals wrestle with their own demons (or angels) they must also comply with both the laws of society and of God, which are sometimes in conflict.

One contemporary American example is rendering certain kinds of assistance to illegal immigrants (I prefer that term to "undocumented" because most people, citizens or not, don't lug around documents in the digital age) when it is forbidden by law.

Catholic Bishop Daniel Flores cites problems with a new Texas executive order:

We can’t provide long-term shelter, but we do offer hot showers, clean clothes, fresh food and water, baby supplies, urgent care from doctors and nurses, and volunteer legal help. These families—already processed and released into the U.S. by federal agents—stay with us for about 24 hours. Then they continue on their journeys. That usually means a bus or plane trip to family members in other parts of the country. Later, an immigration judge will consider their asylum claim.

But our work has been threatened by the Texas state government. Gov. Greg Abbott recently issued an executive order that would prohibit us from transporting those we serve beyond our walls. We filed a friend-of-the-court brief Aug. 12 explaining our ministry’s needs, and a federal court in El Paso temporarily blocked the order from going into effect.

If the order goes into effect, it would forbid our organization to drive a pregnant woman to a doctor’s office or take a child to a hospital for care. It would forbid us to drive a migrant family to a bus station or airport so they could continue their journey to waiting family members. Unable to help move migrant families, we would quickly run out of room to receive new ones in desperate need of help. We would have to tell federal agents that we have no more room. Where would they then leave these families? On the streets of local towns?

We have a religious obligation to serve the poor who are suffering in front of us.

Bishop Flores has an answer to a major concern of Governor Abbott's:

Mr. Abbott says that this is about reducing the transmission of Covid-19, and keeping our staff, volunteers, migrants and the surrounding community safe is critical to our mission. While the U.S. Border Patrol does not test those we serve for Covid, we do. Anyone who tests positive is required to quarantine—sometimes at a site organized with the help of local city and county governments, sometimes at a modest local motel.

The governor’s order would even forbid us to transport families who have tested positive for Covid-19 to the quarantine spaces. Under the order, if someone from our center attempts to drive a migrant anywhere, the Department of Public Safety could stop them and force them to return to the Center—possibly impounding the vehicle. How does that protect Texans from the virus?

I understand and even share Governor Abbott's concern about spreading COVID-19. Another reason for his executive order, perhaps, is that Governor Abbott's party also believes that many migrant families don't show up for immigration court hearings and simply disappear into American society, often aided by people who provide them transportation (note: the no-show claim is disputed).

Solving the problems at the border is way above my pay grade, but so far I have had no trouble differentiating what to render to Ceasar and God.

I work at several charities that supply basic needs (food, clothing, shelter, etc.); I never inquire about recipients' backgrounds or ask what they are doing now or where they are going next. Providing legal aid is ok, but I draw the line at political advocacy, which IMHO weakens the purity of charity and rives the organizations that supply it.

Lately we have seen ideologues who, once placed in power, prefer to destroy businesses and charities for reasons having nothing to do with health and safety. It is my hope and expectation that Gov. Abbott, a Christian, will modify his executive order so that Catholic Charities can continue its good works.