Father's Day without Dad

Friday, Jun. 06, 2014

As Father’s Day approaches, it will be a bittersweet holiday for some of our neighbors. For at least two kids, it will be spent with a father who may soon be deported after he made the mistake of going to the local courthouse to pay a fine for a minor, non-violent citation.  For three other kids, it will be the first Father’s Day since their dad was deported for the heinous crime of working 10 hours a day for an employer who paid in cash.

For both families, the deportations come decades after the fathers arrived in the United States.  Both fathers have made lives for themselves and their families that they could never have hoped to achieve in their home countries. Both have raised bright children who are U.S. citizens and who will go on to college and careers.  Both men also face losing everything, not because they are hardened criminals, but because they crossed a desert many decades ago and found ready, steady employment in the U.S.

Meanwhile, our congressional delegation, fathers all, may spend the holiday surrounded by their loved ones, with very little thought for the Utah families down the road who are being torn apart by our broken immigration system.

Perhaps a few committed Catholics can change that. 

There is growing consensus that this summer is the last, best chance to passing meaningful immigration legislation in Congress. After years of effort, bipartisan recognition that something is seriously wrong with the immigration process, and endless calls for action, it is far past time for Congress to act.  There are two ways to convince Congress to do so – pour large amounts of money into campaigns for those who support immigration reform, or become active voters who challenge the candidates on their immigration positions, and bring other, like-minded voters along with them. 

It would hardly surprise anyone to hear that Utah Catholics are a minority in the state. However, there is an equally great minority of active voters who contact their federal representatives. This means that Catholics who call their representatives may actually be heard. In the lobbying world, a general rule of thumb is that it takes 500 phone calls to persuade a member of Congress.  Luckily, in Utah, where constituents are notorious for not contacting the delegation, it takes something more along the lines of 15 calls.

In a Church that calls us to be a voice for the poor and vulnerable, believes in the sanctity and dignity of life, and advocates for the protection of families, Catholics can surely muster at least 15 phone calls to our congressmen urging them to take action to provide an earned path to citizenship for the many fathers who are and have been working in this country for years and seek only to provide a life of dignity for their children and keep their families intact.  

Please contact your U.S. representative and ask him to support debate on immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship, preserves family unity, restores due process protections to our immigration enforcement policies, and addresses the root causes of migration, such as persecution, violence and economic disparity.  

To find your representative, visit http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and enter your zip code, or call the House switchboard at 202-224-3121.