Immigration Reform?

Granted, we at Holier Than Thou don’t expect a lot out of a state that tried to criminalize doctors who perform stem cell research and tried to force public school teachers to teach intelligent design. But even we were a bit shocked at how far Christian Conservative legislators in Missouri are willing to stretch to impose their Evangelical beliefs onto public policy.

Case in point? The House Special Committee on Immigration Reform, a Republican-lead panel that is examining immigration policy. And, among its most outrageous finding is the claim that THIS cause celeb of the Christian Right is partially responsible for the large number of illegal aliens in the country.

What is it?

A. Gay marriage
B. Abortion
C. Pornography
D. The lack of prayer in our public schools


ANSWER
B: Abortion. The argument made by committee chairman Rep. Ed Emery, who not coincidentally is a strong abortion foe, is that terminating unwanted pregnancies in this country has created a labor pool shortage that in turn entices illegal aliens to come to this country to fill the void. Eliminate abortion, the argument goes, and there won’t be enough jobs around to attract illegals to our shores.

We’ll let Rep. Emery take it from here: “We hear a lot of arguments today that the reason that we can’t get serious about our borders is that we are desperate for all these workers…If you kill 44 million or your potential workers [through abortion], it’s not too surprising we would be desperate for workers.”

Not too surprisingly, not a single Democrat on the panel endorsed this report.

Come back tomorrow when we see how the Missouri GOP will link giving women the vote to catching AIDS.