2/18/2010
Immigration reform urged
| |
|
 |
| Immigration reform urged |
|
The Archdiocese of Portland and other dioceses around the United States are urging Congress to pass immigration reform legislation.
The campaign, called “Justice for Immigrants,” is being led by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Migration. In Oregon, the Archdiocese of Portland Office for Justice and Peace/Respect Life will coordinate a Justice for Immigrants postcard campaign this month.
“Whether the migrants arrive legally or not, one of the fundamental requirements of our faith, based on the teachings of Christ himself and Catholic social teaching, is care for aliens and newcomers,” Archbishop John Vlazny wrote in a letter to priests. “Comprehensive immigration reform is the right step toward ensuring this care.”
Archbishop Vlazny wrote that the archdiocese has an established pastoral goal of “serving the cultural diversity in our midst more effectively.” The U.S. bishops have said the current system for migrants is broken and harmful to human dignity.
The bishops have called for a reform program that includes a fair and realistic path to citizenship. Reform, they add, should include a new worker program providing participants a meaningful opportunity to obtain permanent residency and a temporary worker program to allow migrant workers to enter safely and humanely. Reform also should allow families to be reunited more quickly, the bishops say.
In his letter to priests, Archbishop Vlazny acknowledged that some question why the Church is involving itself in the issue.
“When the last serious discussion took place in Congress about migration reform, I received many letters that were critical of the Church’s stance concerning our undocumented sisters and brothers,” he wrote. “Why do we care? We do because we remember the words Jesus shared with us through the 25th chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel, ‘For I was a stranger and you welcomed me.’”
The Office of Justice and Peace/Respect Life has distributed postcards to the parishes of western Oregon. The parishes have been asked to make the postcards available to parishioners on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17, and the weekend of Feb. 20-21. Postcards will be gathered and forwarded to the Oregon congressional delegation.
There are an estimated 150,000 undocumented immigrants in Oregon and about 11 million in the U.S.
In a January column in the Sentinel, Archbishop Vlazny recognized the gifts and challenges Catholics in Oregon face over immigration and the changes in parish population.
“So many people seem to think our undocumented sisters and brothers have come unfairly,” the archbishop wrote. “The truth is, they have arrived, for the most part, as poor and needy sisters and brothers seeking a way to survive.”
Geoff Scowcroft, an attorney for Catholic Charities Immigration Legal Services, says that in addition to the moral reasons for a legalization path, there are plenty of pragmatic arguments.
Those who are opposed to legalization often claim that immigrants increase crime, reduce the number of jobs, drain social service resources and resist assimilation. Scowcroft says the facts show something different.
A Harvard sociologist found that first-generation immigrants are actually far less likely to commit crime than their third-generation descendants.
“Immigrants have a positive impact on our economy, not a negative impact,” Scowcroft says on employment.
The jobs citizens won’t take — farm labor, slaughterhouses and vegetable chopping plants, for example — get done by immigrants.
Now, those workers pay as much as $7 billion Social Security taxes, but don’t get the benefit.
“It’s kind of a windfall for the government,” Scowcroft says.
As for assimilation, Scowcroft contends that critics have short historical memories, forgetting the struggles of their ancestors. He points to statistics showing that 91 percent of today’s second-generation immigrants are fluent or nearly fluent in English.
Scowcoft’s office helps immigrants who are victims of domestic violence, human trafficking or other crimes take advantage of special immigration remedies. Such provisions encourage people who are suffering to emerge from the shadows.
Catholic Charities also helps legal immigrants bring family members to the U.S. and seeks to block deportation of undocumented family members — it’s all about keeping families together.
Church leaders point out that the Holy Family were migrants. Speaking about immigrants, Pope Benedict has said that “every man and woman may be regarded as brothers and sisters, children of the same Father.”
“The Church’s work in assisting migrants stems from the belief that every person is created in God’s image,” Cardinal Theodore McCarrick said in October in testimony to a panel in the U.S. Senate.
The cardinal, retired head of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., called on the Obama administration and Congress to pass a package that would “legalize undocumented migrants and their families in the U.S., provide legal means for migrants to enter our nation to work and support their families, and reform the system whereby immigrants come to the United States to be reunited with close family members.”
Cardinal McCarrick said it is important that the United States and Mexico and other nations address the root causes of migration, “so that migrants and their families may remain in their homelands and live in dignity.”
The cardinal chided lawmakers for a harsh tone used against immigrants, especially during the health care debate.
“We are hopeful that the future national debate on immigration will focus upon the many contributions that immigrants, both documented and undocumented, make to our country and not scapegoat newcomers for unrelated economic or social challenges we face as a nation,” he said.
A coalition of faith groups, including the Justice for Immigrants campaign, is planning a large mobilization for immigration reform on the Washington National Mall Sunday, March 21.
In his State of the Union speech to Congress Jan. 27, President Obama reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to immigration reform, calling on Congress to “continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system to secure our borders, enforce our laws and ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nation.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., restated his commitment to moving immigration reform this year. There is a bipartisan bill being formed in the Senate.
|
|
