Should the Seperation of Church and State be changed by Illegal Immigration in the USA?

Question

In many States, ICE is cracking down and picking up illegals. The churches that support these illegals and assist them in getting here have now started to file legal actions to halt these raids picking up the illegals.

These are churches that get tax exempt status because they are supposedly non profit. Additionally they get money from the Fed. Government to help the indigent (poor illegals?)

Several churched have been sued recently for giving money to political candidates. It is a conflict of Church and State and they lose their tax exempt status as a result of this.

Now we have churches helping illegals (a crime in itself) becoming political to protect illegals (conflict of tax exempt behavior). Should we remove their tax exempt status, stop giving them Federal aid and tax the revenues they reap and garner from their illegal parishiners, as well as to prosecute them for aiding and abetting an illegal?

Answer 1

No we shouldn't. Your suggestion would serve to further erode our civil liberties.

Answer 2

yes,they should pay taxes like us.

Answer 3

First, interestingly enough, the doctrine of "separation of church and state" is not specifically mentioned in the Constitution.  Instead, it comes from a ruling by a Supreme Court decision in interpreting part of the 1st amendment.

Although I support illegal aliens being able to stay here as long as they meet certain criteria, I do not believe a church or other religious establishment should be assisting them in the way in which a small number of them have.  But being tax exempt does not mean they are receiving money from the government; they simply don't have to give any of their money TO the government.  With that being said, tax exempt groups such as churches are not supposed to get involved in politics.  Does allowing an illegal alien to reside in their church directly imply the church is making a political statement in violation of IRS guidelines?  I think a decent argument could be made in both directions.

As with nearly every facet of the immigration issue, this is a gray area.  Some churches that make a stand clearly in defiance should lose their status.  Others that are less clearly defying the government might be left alone and the government could fight other battles, perhaps battles that would actually fix the root problem, not side effects.

Also, some of these churches may have already lost their status but continue to operate as a church.  After all, it is not required that a church be tax exempt to be a church in the eyes of most.