SALT LAKE CITY — One week before Christmas, the U.S. Senate failed to pass the DREAM Act, despite more than 30,000 messages and letters from Catholics and urging by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to "do the right thing" and create a path to citizenship for young people brought to this country by their undocumented parents.
The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act would have given an estimated 2.1 million children of undocumented parents the opportunity to legalize their status after graduating from college or serving in the military.
The bill passed the House on Dec. 9 but failed in the Senate when the vote to break a filibuster on the measure fell five votes short. Utah Sen. Robert Bennett voted to break the filibuster; Sen. Orrin Hatch was absent from the vote.
On Dec. 17 – the day before the Senate vote – the Most Rev. John C. Wester, bishop of Salt Lake City, was one of four bishops who participated in a conference call with reporters to urge senators to pass the bill.
Bishop Wester is the immediate past president of the USCCB Committee on Migration.
Also participating in the call were Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles; Archbishop Jose Gomez, coadjutor bishop of Los Angeles and chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration; and Bishop Edward Burns of the Diocese of Juneau, Alaska.
Young people following the DREAM Act path to citizenship would be productive members of society whom Bishop Wester would be proud to have as fellow citizens, he said. In addition, the DREAM Act would have been an important first step toward comprehensive immigration reform, which the USCCB supports, and also would help keep families together. "The tendency is to see this as only a political issue and, sadly I think, it has been the victim of politics…but really it is a human issue, it’s a moral issue. It involves real human beings and their futures and their lives," Bishop Wester said.
After the Senate failed to pass the DREAM Act, Bishop Wester said in a statement that he was saddened by their action. "It is tragic for these bright, young immigrants and a loss for our country," the statement read. "I am hopeful that the new Congress will revisit this important action and correct this decision. At the same time, I wish to thank Senator Robert Bennett for his courage and leadership in voting for the DREAM Act. The final days of his illustrious career in the Senate are graced by his decision to support this legislation. I will continue to advocate, along with so many others, for the DREAM Act and for humane reform of our broken immigration system."
During the conference call, Archbishop Gomez said that, regardless of the Senate vote on the DREAM Act, the USCCB would continue to seek comprehensive immigration reform. "We have been doing for a long time and we continue to ask our elected officials to find the best solution for the immigration reality of our country," he said.
In a press release on Dec. 21, the archbishop described the vote as a "setback, not a defeat…. With the passage of the DREAM Act in the House of Representatives and with a majority of the U.S. Senate voting in favor, it is clear that a majority of Congress and of the American public support this common-sense humanitarian measure," he said. "I am confident that one day – sooner rather than later – the DREAM Act will become the law of the land. The U.S. Catholic bishops will continue to advocate for humane immigration reform, so that we can attain an immigration system that properly balances the need to protect our national sovereignty with our obligation to honor fundamental human rights," he said. "More education is needed to ensure that Catholics, as well as all Americans, fully understand the humanitarian consequences of a broken immigration system, especially on families."
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