Regarding immigration, it might be worthwhile to look into what St. Thomas Aquinas has said on the subject. Put simply, his argument is that "if foreigners were allowed to meddle with the affairs of a nation as soon as they settled down in its midst, many dangers might occur, since the foreigners not yet having the common good firmly at heart might attempt something hurtful to the people." (
source) His stance is based on the fact "every one should prefer the common good of virtue to the good of the individual."
For example, imagine you allow an immigrant to enter your country and obtain work as a mechanic. Meanwhile, your next-door-neighbor is a citizen of 200 years and also a mechanic by trade. If your neighbor becomes unemployed, because you've imported an immigrant mechanic, you've sinned against your neighbor by stealing his employment away him. In this case, you've hurt the common good of your country (your neighbor) by preferring the good of the individual (the immigrant).
Here's a quick summary:
"In the
Treatise on Law of his Summa Theologiae, Question 105, Article 3, the Doctor of the Church argues that
every nation has the right to determine who can be allowed to migrate to it and to establish immigration policies accordingly.
Discussing “Whether the judicial precepts regarding foreigners were framed in a suitable manner”, Saint Thomas analyzed how the ancient Israelites actually applied God’s commandment to welcome the stranger. The Jews did not admit visitors from all nations equally, he wrote, since peoples closer to them were more quickly integrated into the population than those who were not as close. Moreover, people coming from certain nations were not admitted into Israel at all, due to their hostility toward the Jewish people and culture.
Saint Thomas identified three types of “strangers”. First were “the foreigners who passed through their land as travellers,” much like modern day visitors with a travel visa. Second were those who “came to dwell in their land as newcomers”, living in the land but without the full benefits of citizenship, like today’s resident aliens.
The third group was those foreigners who wished to be admitted entirely to the fellowship and mode of worship of the Jews. Even in this case, Saint Thomas counselled a delay of two or three generations before foreigners could be naturalized — deemed to be citizens."
Yes, two or three generations before becoming citizens.
When you consider unemployment is looking like this (below) it makes sense.
The US unemployment rate edged down to 6.2 percent in February 2021, the lowest rate since April's record high of 14.8 percent and below market expectations of 6.3 percent. Still, the jobless rate remained well above pre-pandemic levels. The number of unemployed people fell by 158 thousand to...
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