Group says illegal immigration movement encourages kids to reject biblical commands

A pro-family group says demonstrators demanding amnesty for the estimated 12 million illegal aliens in the United States are teaching their children lawlessness.

Open-borders proponents are once again ratcheting up their calls for the U.S. Congress to provide a so-called "path to citizenship" for millions of illegal aliens. But Phil Magnan, director of Biblical Family Advocates, says the illegal immigrant movement in America is teaching children that they do not have to submit to the governing authorities.

"I'd considered the issue for quite some time and thought about the impact of parents actually ignoring the loss of the land and actually thinking in terms of that they were somehow entitled to the United States and what kind of lessons that actually teaches children," Magnan notes. "And what I had seen was, in reality, their parents are, by their actions and their attitudes, actually teaching children that it's okay to steal and that it's okay to covet your neighbor's goods," he says.

Mexico and other foreign government are wrong to use the United States as a "stopgap for their poverty" by encouraging their citizens to enter the U.S. illegally, the Biblical Family Advocates spokesman asserts. In addition, he says proponents of illegal immigration are wrong to teach children to disregard American laws.

"In Romans 13, it says we're to subject ourselves to the governing authorities," Magnan points out. "If I did not subject myself to the governing authorities, I would expect to be punished," he says. "And, if I am punished, am I supposed to tell people, 'Wow ... that wasn't very loving. That wasn't very kind'? Well, it's obviously not a fun thing to have to go through, being prosecuted for crimes; but the fact is, I have broken the law."

And that, the pro-family official insists, is the kind of message that needs to be sent to illegal immigrants -- that they are indeed breaking the law. And, he adds, "Regardless of how many people have chosen to do so, it still does not make it right."

Magnan says the Mexican government has caused its people to want the wealth of the United States when, instead, it should be trying to change its ways and avoid failing its people. Loving one's neighbor does not mean that your neighbor is entitled to your home, money or country, he contends; but instead, it means showing kindness to them in a "voluntary, not compulsory" way.