Immigration

We’ve got to fix our broken immigration system

The following is an editorial by Editor Joe Kowalski in the April 30th issue of The Catholic Spirit:

Fixing the nation’s broken immigration system has taken a back seat in recent months to efforts by the United States and the rest of the world to address the impact of a severe economic recession. But there are signs that the debate over immigration reform will soon be heating up again.

The White House has indicated that President Obama will speak about the issue next month, and activists are gearing up for another effort to push comprehensive legislation through Congress.

Given the other pressing needs facing Americans at this time, one can justifiably ask: Why should we de­vote time and resources to the immigration issue right now? Can’t it wait? The short answer is no. Today’s policies frequently fail to respect the human dignity of immigrants, particularly those who are undocumented and who have no easy avenue to regularize their status. Enforcement strategies, while necessary for law and order, too often separate spouses from each other and parents from their children — situations that have happened, and continue to happen, as a result of home and workplace raids in Minnesota and across the country.

Justice requires that changes be made as soon as possible.

Additionally, there is evidence that immigration reform just might help our nation stabilize its tough economic situation. Immigrants already contribute in various ways to the U.S. economy and, according to both the U.S. bishops’ Justice for Immigrants campaign and the Immigration Policy Center, reform measures that give more immigrants a path to citizenship would improve wages for all workers and increase tax revenues for all levels of government.

Our own Minnesota bishops, in their statement on immigration from last December, “Welcoming Our Immigrant Brothers and Sisters,” outlined some broad goals for comprehensive immigration reform that respect human rights and the principles of Catholic social teaching. The bishops said reform should:

• recognize the inherent dignity of every human being.
• seek to reunite, stabilize and strengthen families.
• ease the path to citizenship for our undocumented sisters and bro­thers who are living in the United States
• provide access to basic needs.
• embody due process.
• reflect an awareness of the so­cial, political and economic causes of migration.

As immigration reform returns to the spotlight, it is a good time to remind ourselves that our nation, our state and our local church were built in large part on the backs of immigrants hoping to start new lives for themselves and their families. Today, those immigrants hail from Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe, and they deserve the same opportunities our ancestors had.

There is little doubt that enacting broad reform principles into law will be a difficult task because of the politics and the prejudices that surround the immigration issue. Our task as concerned Catholics should be to educate ourselves and others about the needs of our immigrant brothers and sisters, to change hearts and minds hardened by prejudice whenever possible, and to help lawmakers and others focus on the task at hand.