Immigration Reform
This past Saturday I attended a Forum on Immigration sponsored by the Archdiocese of Seattle. They're sponsoring a series of them; I had to get up at 5:15 a.m. for this one, taking a ferry ride to Paulsbo for it, because the scheduled forum closer to home posed a schedule conflict for me.
In announcing these gatherings, Seattle's Archbishop Brunette had written to all the parishes about a few of the difficulties that our brother & sister Catholics live with. In his letter he casually highlighted one parish where people are now afraid to come to the Spanish-language Mass, out of fear that Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) would grab them after Mass. I came hoping to learn on a deeper level what the Catholic bishops have to say about immigration reform.
The forum was attended by about 60-70 people, mostly from the parishes in the area. There was a wealth of material distributed, especially a "Parish Resource Kit" produced by the Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform, part of the USCCB Committee on Migration. The bishops' call for reform includes the following elements: 1) Global anti-poverty efforts -- so that there would be more incentives to stay in one's home country; 2) Expanded opportunities to reunify families -- current practice often breaks them apart; 3) a Temporary Worker program, with a path to permanent residency which is achievable/verifiable -- foreign workers provide valuable labor in many areas; 4) Broad-based legalization -- if candidates can demonstrate good moral character and have built up equities in this country; and 5) Restoration of due process -- immigrants in recent years have been subject to detention for months without charges, secret hearings, and ethnic profiling, policies which confuse immigration with terrorism.
The materials distributed highlight five rights, that fit in with these elements: 1) Persons have the right to find opportunities in their homeland; 2) Persons have the right to migrate to support themselves and their families; 3) Sovereign nations have a right to control their borders; 4) Refugees and asylum seekers should be afforded protection; and 5) The human rights and human dignity of undocumented migrants should be respected.
I was very touched by the personal witness given at this gathering -- families who testified to members being detained indefinitely (read: imprisoned) without representation, waiting hearings. Some fled persecution in their home country and have reason to fear for their lives if they are deported. Bishop Elizondo spoke very persuasively and passionately about the injustice of our current system and policies. It was repeatedly described as a "broken" system.
posted by Deacon Denny @ 12:20 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Interesting...good to hear them speaking out on this issue. I wonder if anyone from my parish was there? Been underneath my thesis-shaped rock the past few months.
This was the first of four, and it was held at Poulsbo. The closest is at St. Madeline Sophie on Saturday, April 25th. Interested in going?
Sure if I'm not serving. :)
Want me to let our peace and justice group know?
Good idea. I would expect the one at Madeline Sophie to be well-attended. To sign up, contact Jim Thomas at the Chancery, 206-382-4268.
OK! And I'm passing it along...
I've always been troubled by the USCCB's take on national boundaries. You say that they respect national borders but it doesn't sound like that sometimes, with Churchs acting as hideouts for illegals and so forth. I seriously doubt that Rome is all in favor of unchecked immigration of muslims from North Africa into Italy. Yet when it comes to the USA the church sometimes seems totally anti-national boundaries, because of some anti-cathollic policies from 100 years ago or some such, or simply because Mexicans are slightly more likely to be catholic that Egyptians.
I think that the foreign language thing really could cause serious disunity, discord, and perhaps even violence and that the USCCB is being short sighted. The church as a whole certainly seems disingenuous if it were to pretend that it really wants no national boundaries anywhere in the world.
Hello Marcus --
I come back to those five points listed above.
Sovereign nations do have the right to control their borders. That is related to safety, and is one of the functions of government. But as citizens and as Christians, we can also call upon all nations -- our own included -- to be generous and merciful to those who are refugees, those who are suffering, even economic refugees. This is a fine Old Testament tradition, and it coincides with reason as well.
For even if that call to mercy should fall upon hard hearts, I would argue that all human beings have an intrinsic right to migrate to support themselves and their families, and immigration laws should find ways to allow this in an orderly way. As a nation of immigrants, the US should know this above all other countries. Throughout our history we have nearly always had hard work to be done that immigrants have been willing to do, in exchange for the opportunities to support their families. I think that when such people demonstrate their desire to work this hard, we should find ways for them to become permanent citizens. Our country becomes all the richer when we can find those ways.
I don't know what you intend when you say "the foreign language thing." Sounds a little fearful, to me. Most generations here in the US have seen new arrivals who spoke foreign languages. Some arrivals have always found learning English -- along with our many customs -- to be too difficult, and have remained for a time in Polish or German or Chinese neighborhoods. But not for long. So it is today with the Latin American immigrant.
Mass immigration from a neighbor country is simply different than mass immigration via Ellis Island. Don't forget that we took Texas in the first place by mass immigration ('fillibustering'). That resulted in war.
I would be all for opening Ellis Island up to eastern and southern Europe once again. Those nations share our values. But I am not sure I would open it up to Egypt, Somalia, or a neighbor like Mexico. Why can't Spain open its borders to Mexico? They speak the same language and do not share a border.
I think in our heart of hearts we have to admit that the USCCB has a soft spot in its heart for MExican immigrants because they are catholic and we have memories of anti-irish and anti-italian discrimination and such aimed at limiting catholic immigration. But these fears of anti-catholic discrimination are today short sighted. We have a real border issue with a neighboring country, and a need to limit immigration to a population size that we can integrate. If the USCCB wants to support these open immigration reforms they should be thinking about Ellis Island and Hungary, Poland, Croatia, Slovenia, and other such nations. Increasing our population of spanish speakers with an affinity to a border state by 30% is just plain irresponsible.
It is still hypocritical that the church does not take a similar stant for Morrocans who want to immigrate to Rome. I am sure there are plenty of them.
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