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July 3, 2006 • VOL. 44, NO. 13 • Oakland, CA
U.S. bishops
continue to press
Congress on immigration reform
LOS ANGELES
(CNS) -- U.S. bishops continue to press Congress to legislate comprehensive
and humane immigration reform, while acknowledging that not all Catholics
agree with them.
“The U.S. Catholic bishops acknowledge that immigration is an emotional
and challenging issue which has engaged the American public, including
members of the Catholic faithful,” Bishop William S. Skylstad of
Spokane, Wash., president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, said
in a statement issued by the bishops during their bi-annual meeting, June
15.
“We have heard from Catholics and others of good will who both agree
and disagree with us on how best to respond to the immigration crisis.”
Bishop Skylstad said current U.S. immigration policy harms “the
basic dignity and life of the human person” and “needs to
be reformed urgently.”
“Each day in our parishes, social service programs, hospitals and
schools we witness the human consequences of an immigration system which
is seriously flawed,” he added.
“Families are divided, migrants are exploited and abused by smugglers
and human traffickers and, in some cases, men, women and children who
attempt to come here in search of a better life perish in the American
desert.”
He said the bishops “will continue to work with Congress and the
president to enact comprehensive immigration reform,” establishing
laws that are “just and humane and reflect the values -- fairness,
opportunity and compassion -- upon which our nation, a nation of immigrants,
was built.”
At a press conference the day before the bishops’meeting began in
Los Angeles, Bishop Gerald R. Barnes of San Bernardino urged, “congressional
leaders and the president to seize this historic moment and enact a just
and humane immigration measure.”
Congressional conferees need to resolve differences between a Senate bill
passed in May that includes many comprehensive reform provisions and a
House bill passed in December that focuses only on the enforcement of
immigration laws and criminalizes undocumented immigrants and those who
assist them.
Bishop Barnes, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration,
observed that the $25 billion spent on border enforcement in the last
dozen years has resulted in double the number of undocumented immigrants
and the deaths of some 3,000 in the desert.
“It is clear that an enforcement-only approach to immigration reform
has failed,” said the bishop, urging the Senate and House to produce
a bill that would address reform comprehensively.
Comprehensive legislation, added Bishop Barnes, addresses the root causes
of migration so that people can stay in their homelands and support their
families with dignity; includes border security measures that are targeted,
proportional and humane; creates a viable earned path to citizenship for
an estimated 11 million to 12 million people in the U.S. illegally; creates
a temporary worker program that protects the rights of workers; and includes
a family-based reunification program, among other provisions.
“The problem is not at the border. It’s in the labor market,”
said Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, N.Y., chairman of the Catholic
Legal Immigration Network. “We must have a secure labor market.
Then we can have a secure border.”
Temporary worker programs and an earned path to citizenship would enable
the government to regulate the flow of workers to meet the demand from
employers, he said.
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles said at the press conference that
he had been asked why the Church had gotten so involved in this issue.
“It is our Gospel mandate,” said the archbishop, referring
to the Gospel of Matthew in which Jesus exhorts his followers to feed
the hungry, clothe the naked and welcome the stranger.
At parishes, schools, hospitals and Catholic social service programs,
the bishops are hearing many stories of how immigrants are suffering under
the current system, said Cardinal Mahony. Undocumented immigrants are
forced to live on the margins of society and are vulnerable to exploitation.
“This suffering must end,” he said.
The current immigration system, added Cardinal Mahony, “is morally
unacceptable, because it accepts the labor and taxes of immigrants without
offering them protections.” Now immigrants are being used as scapegoats
for the nation’s problems, he said.
Laws and policies, added Cardinal Mahony, must “serve basic human
dignity and protect human life.”
Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., a member of the bishops’
Committee on Migration, noted that the Catholic Church was joined by other
faith traditions in a strong ecumenical effort to “articulate a
moral position about a complex issue.”
Auxiliary Bishop Jaime Soto of Orange emphasized that for a new law to
be workable it would need to be efficient and simple to follow. The current
Senate bill is 796 pages long.
Bishop DiMarzio urged that immigrants be allowed to apply for a green
card on their own and not be dependent on an employer. “We do not
need to have indentured servants in our country,” he said.
In response to a reporter’s question about whether some lawmakers
were hardening their positions against immigration reform, Bishop Barnes
said that while some people will always oppose reform, “I believe
the majority of the American public wants to do the right thing.”
(Contributing to this story was Jerry Filteau.)
Members of churches in Berkeley pray for just immigration reform during a forum at St. Joseph School in Berkeley last month, sponsored by BOCA (Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action).
Father Stephan Kappler, parochial vicar at St. Joseph the Worker Parish, leads the opening prayer at the immigration forum.
JOSE LUIS AGUIRRE PHOTOS
