• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
The Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform
 
Resources for 
 
PLEASE SUPPORT COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM
.
 
Act Now!
 
 Justice For Immigrants
 
* 
 
FACT SHEET 
 
* 
 
WELCOME
 
STATEMENT OF HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL FRANCIS GEORGE, OMI
 
 
ARCHBISHOP OF CHICAGO
 
PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPSJUNE 18, 2009
On behalf of the United States Catholic Bishops, gathered in San Antonio, Texas, at our annual spring meeting, I wouldask President Barack Obama and congressional leaders of both parties to work together to fashion and enactcomprehensive immigration reform legislation before the end of the year.It has been clear for years that the United States immigration system requires repair and that reform legislation should not be delayed.We urge respect and observance of all just laws, and we do not approve or encourage the illegal entry of anyone into our country. From a humanitarian perspective, however, our fellow human beings, who migrate to support their families,continue to suffer at the hands of immigration policies that separate them from family members and drive them intoremote parts of the American desert, sometimes to their deaths. This suffering should not continue. Now is the time to address this pressing humanitarian issue which affects so many lives and undermines basic humandignity. Our society should no longer tolerate a status quo that perpetuates a permanent underclass of persons and benefitsfrom their labor without offering them legal protections. As a moral matter, we must resolve the legal status of those whoare here without proper documentation so that they can fully contribute their talents to our nation’s economic, social andspiritual well being.Only through comprehensive reform can we restore the rule of law to our nation’s immigration system.We urge President Obama and congressional leaders to meet as soon as possible to discuss and draft comprehensiveimmigration reform legislation, with the goal of making it law by the end of 2009. The Catholic bishops of our countrystand ready to assist in this effort.
************************
 
 
 A
 
CTION 
 
 A
 
 LERT 
!
Click above for the action alert that we're sending out to our members. Feel free to change it and send it to your own networks.
 
************************Statement of Most Reverend John C. Wester
 Bishop of Salt Lake City, Utah, and Chairman, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security
 Hearing on Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2009April 30, 2009
 
On behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), I commend the Senate Committeeon the Judiciary and Senator Schumer in particular for convening this hearing on the important subject of immigration reform.The USCCB has long advocated for policies that respect the human dignity of immigrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, and other people on the move. In addition, the USCCB has engaged in several decades of advocacywith Congress on a long list of immigration-related issues. As one of the largest social service providers in thecountry, we provide basic services to immigrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, and other newcomers.We believe that a properly-constituted immigration reform bill is the optimal way to safeguard the basichuman rights of migrants, protect the integrity of the immigrant family, and promote the common good of our country.Reform is all the more pressing due to the outmoded state of our current immigration system. We should nolonger condone a hidden underclass of human beings in our country and should bring them out of the shadowsto fully contribute to society. Moreover, too few channels exist for low-skilled immigrants to enter the countryand work or join family members in a safe and controlled manner.Recently, family unity has been compromised by a series of enforcement actions that have separatedimmigrant family members, including U.S. citizens. Enforcement-only strategies should be abandoned andreplaced with a more comprehensive approach, including reforms in our legal immigration system.In our view, immigration reform should contain a broad-based legalization program which provides a path tocitizenship; a future worker program with protections for both immigrant and domestic workers; family-basedimmigration reform that reduces backlogs without harming the current preference categories; restoration of due- process protections, including revision of the three- and ten-year bars and restoration of judicial discretion indeportation hearings; integration and implementation provisions; and measures that address the root causes of unlawful migration by encouraging economic development in sending countries. Attached please find an outlineof important elements necessary for just reform.It is the view of the U.S. bishops that immigration reform needs to be enacted sooner rather than later. Weurge the President and Congress to begin formulating appropriate legislation and to educate the American publicabout the importance of its enactment.As we have seen in the past, enacting immigration reform will require resolve, diligence, patience, and prudence. As we move forward with the debate, we urge our elected officials to resist the loud and minorityvoices that oppose reform and which use harsh rhetoric against immigrants and those who support them. Wefirmly believe that immigration reform supports the common good of our nation and hope to work withSubcommittee Chairman Schumer and other members of the subcommittee toward its enactment in the days andmonths ahead.Thank you for your consideration of our views.
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...