Undocumented Student Kills Himself Over Fears of Deportation

I've noted many times before that I am no longer a Republican because the Party has become something truly ugly. Likewise, I increasingly want nothing to do with being called a Christian because the conservative Christians who make up much of the most hated filled element of the GOP base make a mockery of the Gospel message and act in a manner diametrically opposed to the message of Christ as set forth in the New Testament Gospels. The latest blood on the hands of the GOP and its Christianist allies belongs to 18 year old Joaquin Luna, a senior in high school who had dreamed of going to college. Faced with fears of deportation - a favorite treatment of of conservatives for those in the USA illegally, often not because of their own deeds - Luna committed suicide. True, not all Republicans and not all conservative Christians bear direct responsibility for this tragedy. But, as argued before on this blog, bad things happen when good people do nothing to stop evil. And sadly, the vast majority of Republicans and Christians - the good Christians if you will - are sitting silently on their hands while evil deeds are done in the name of conservatism and/or Christianity. CNN has details on Joaquin Luna's sad suicide. Here are some highlights:

Joaquin Luna was only 18. The senior at Juarez Lincoln High School in Mission, Texas, dreamed of going to college. But since he was in the country illegally, that was nearly impossible.

Luna was quickly losing hope of ever going to college, his family says. The Friday after Thanksgiving, Luna put on a suit, kissed his family members, went into the bathroom and shot himself in the head, according to family members.

"He didn't see no other way or no other option," his brother Diyra Mendoza told CNN affiliate KGBT.

Mendoza says the letters his brother left behind reveal his fears about being in the country illegally. He also was frustrated because the DREAM Act - an initiative that would legalize young immigrants who have been in the country for more than five years if they attend college or serve in the military - never passed.

It's estimated that the DREAM Act would benefit about 2 million young people. It failed by five votes in the Senate last December. A new push by Democrats in Congress this year also didn't go far.

Republican lawmakers call the bill "blanket amnesty" and have strongly opposed it. . . . . The DREAM Act was also a hot-potato issue in the November 22 CNN debate of Republican presidential candidates. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich spoke in favor of the DREAM Act. "I don't see any reason to punish somebody who came here at 3 years of age, but who wants to serve the United States of America," Gingrich said.

Mitt Romney agreed with Gingrich saying the he "would staple a green card to the diploma of anybody who's got a degree of math, science, master's degree, Ph.D. We want those brains in our country."

But Michele Bachmann denounced it, warning the measure would "offer taxpayer-subsidized benefits to illegal aliens. We need to move away from magnets not offer more."

I certainly hope God - if there is one - judges Bachmann and those like her as she has callously judged and condemned others. This constant refusal to recognize the common humanity of others based on race, religion, national origin - and, yes, sexual orientation - literally sickens me. Why doesn't the GOP admit reality and become an affiliate of the KKK and Neo-Nazi groups? The views of the GOP base towards those who are "other" are nearly identical to these obvious hate groups.