Immigration Issues

Join the Immigrant Justice Action Network:
http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org/
http://www.justiciaparalosinmigrantes.org/     

   

 

Sojourners: Faith, Politics, Culture: http://go.sojo.net/campaign/immigration/explanation

National Council of La Raza: www.nclr.org

American Friends Service Committee: www.afsc.org/immigrants-rights/learn/default.htm

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: www.usccb.org/mrs/stranger.shtml

No More Deaths Campaign: www.nomoredeaths.org

Latin America Working Group: www.lawg.org

New American Opportunity Campaign: www.cirnow.org

Mennonite Central Committee Washington Office: www.mcc.org/us/washington

World Relief: http://www.wr.org/gettinginvolved/advocacy/view.asp?id=80024022
Statement on Immigration by the Alabama Faith Council:  http://alfaithcouncil.org/AFCStatements/AFCStatementImmigrationReform.pdf

 

 

 

National Academy of Sciences: http://fermat.nap.edu/catalog/5779.html

U.S. Department of Labor: http://www.nupr.neu.edu/11-02/immigration.PDF

         

                                                                                      

 

 

Please contact your state's legislators to urge them to vote for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and against restrictionist legislation that lashes out at immigrants but does not solve the problems in our immigration system.  

 

We all recognize that our immigration system is broken and in need of fixing, but there are right ways and wrong ways to go about reforming that system.

 

Two very different bills have passed in the U.S. Senate and House during the past few years, though the Senate failed to pass any significant immigration reform bill in 2007.  In December, 2005, the House passed  “The Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005” (H.R. 4437), sponsored by Rep. Sensenbrenner, This is a purely punitive bill that focuses only on enforcement of immigration laws and does not include needed reforms in immigration policy that would address our current immigration problems more comprehensively and effectively. 

Among several problematic aspects, this bill would:  (1) make “unlawful presence” in the U.S. a crime, rather than a civil violation; and (2) prosecute as criminals (with up to five years in prison) people in churches and social service agencies who offer humanitarian assistance to undocumented immigrants, in fulfillment of our Christian responsibility of ministry to “the least of these.”

 

In striking contrast, in May, 2006, the Senate passed the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 (S. 2611), which addresses the problems in our immigration system more comprehensively by: (1) enhancing border security in realistic ways; (2) provides a temporary guest worker program to address both the needs of American businesses for employees and the needs of Latin American immigrants for jobs; (3) creates a process of earned legalization, including a path to permanent residency and citizenship, for the 12 million undocumented immigrants already here, provided they have not engaged in criminal activities, pay their taxes, learn English, and pay a substantial fine for entering the country without legal authorization.  It was not a perfect bill, and there are concerns about some aspects, but on the whole it was a positive step for both national security and justice in immigration.  Unfortunately, that bill died for lack of approval by the House, and attempts to enact similar legislation since then have thus far not succeeded.

 

Many people have a misunderstanding about immigration policy and coming here "legally" versus "illegally."  Many believe a person can just go to the border and sign up, get their name on a list and wait their turn to come.  However, immigration does not work that way.  No one can come without meeting a complicated set of criteria in our immigration laws.  For most of the undocumented immigrants here, no legal process for immigrating to the U.S. exists.  Our immigration policies currently do not regard "unskilled laborers" as eligible to immigrate on the basis of employment.  Some immigrants are eligible for family-based immigration, if they have a spouse, parent, or son or daughter over 21 who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and can petition for them (or a sibling for citizens only).  The overwhelming majority of undocumented immigrants do not have a qualifying relative to petition for them, and even for those who do, the process can literally take decades, so as to be irrelevant to the need.

 

 “Talk radio” programs muddy the waters by meshing “illegal immigration” with “national security” and keeping out terrorists.  This is pure demagoguery that ignores the real problem.  Latin Americans coming here to work are not terrorists, and unlike these poor workers, terrorists have the resources it takes to work the system and come legally.  Most, if not all, of the September 11 terrorists had entered the country legally. 

 

Christians and other people of conscience need to contact their legislators, urging them to support the enactment of comprehensive immigration reform legislation such as the bill passed by the Senate in 2006 and to oppose draconian legislation such as the bill passed by the House in 2005, as we seek legislation that comprehensively addresses both enforcement and a more workable, sensible, and just immigration policy.  

 

 

For a statement on immigration issues from a Christian perspective by Bishop William H. Willimon, see: 
http://www.northalabamaumc.org/bishop_column_detail.asp?TableName=oBishop_Sermons_Speeches_PWLDXP&PKValue=77