You can probably guess exactly where Lisa Koop stands on the immigration issue when you learn that she has had a "No Human Being Is Illegal" bumper sticker. She's an immigration lawyer at the Notre Dame Legal Aid Clinic and decries proposed U.S. House legislation that would make an "undocumented immigrant's" "very existence in our communities a crime." So? It already isn't a crime? It would also allow the government to "prosecute almost any American who helps or has regular contact with undocumented people." I think this is called, when referring to most crimes, "aiding and abetting." You know of a crime but don't report it, know the criminal but don't turn him in.
OK, no person is illegal, but lots of people commit illegal acts, for which there should be punishment. It is illegal for people to be in this country without bothering to go through our immigration requirements. It's not as if the punishment were draconian -- huge fines, prison time. The punishment is merely to be sent back to the country they left in order to illegally enter ours. Say somebody breaks into my house. The equivalent punishment would be to just throw them out of my house rather than asking the police to charge them with burglary.
But even that wouldn't be cutting them enough of a break to suit Lisa Koop. She wants undocumented people to have access to things like health care and a good education, so they can "gain status" under the current system rather than being driven "further into the shadows," thus robbing us "of the gifts they bring to our communities." So, not only can't I have the burglar arrested and thrown in jail, I really can't even throw him out of my house, either. I must clothe him and feed him and let him have the spare bedroom. And since I don't charge anything to cousin George, whom I invited to visit my house, I suppose I can't even collect rent.
