We need immigration reform, not political payback

Friday, Nov. 21, 2014

As we Americans prepare to celebrate a national day of thanksgiving, the image of immigrants huddled in the shadows comes to my mind. For most of them there will be no table laden with turkey and ham, potatoes and pies. Indeed, many of them will labor on that day at jobs we in the mainstream tend to scorn – making beds in hotels, washing dishes in restaurants, picking vegetables in fields – backbreaking work for which they receive wages so scanty that their meager meals have no resemblance to the Thanksgiving feasts we see others enjoy.  

On that day as well as every other, these hard-working men and women will fear the knock on the door that heralds the arrival of law enforcement who will send them back across the border for nothing other than their inability to receive a piece of paper that permits them to legally strive for a better life for themselves and their children.   

 For the Catholic Church in the United States, reform of our broken immigration system is a personal matter as well as a political one. As pastors and parishioners, we have seen families torn apart by enforcement actions. We have watched nonsensical deportations of fathers who have started businesses, raised families, and paid taxes into our system.  We have struggled to stop deportations of mothers who are the sole financial and emotional support for their children who are U.S. citizens. We have ministered to children who have been left alone, frightened and vulnerable in the only country they have ever known. We have also witnessed the triumphs of parents who have risked their lives crossing the border in order to move their families out of poverty even though they expose themselves to the danger of being deported.  

In other words, we have journeyed with immigrant families who have enriched our parishes, communities and nation, all while they live in the shadows of our society. Because we have been part of their journey, we understand that immigration laws aren’t just about quotas and border patrol. As pastors, I and my brother bishops in the U.S. are compelled to advocate for humane immigration reform, including executive action, because we cannot stand idly by while families are destroyed and millions live, work, and contribute to our national well-being without legal protections.  

After 10 years of advocating for immigration reform, we bishops applaud President Barack Obama’s promise to take executive action on at least one area of concern in our current system. The president has stated on several occasions that he would act to curb deportations after the November elections, particularly where the deportations separate minor children from their parents. Executive action could include a number of common-sense solutions to some of the failures in our immigration processes. For example, the president could defer deportation of parents whose children have already been granted protection through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. By ensuring that parents are not deported, children brought to this country as toddlers may attend school without fearing that, before they get home, their parents will be arrested and placed in deportation proceedings. The president could also take several actions to recognize that many immigrants lack legal status due to backlogs in the U.S. immigration system that are far beyond the immigrant’s control. 

While some members of Congress have suggested such common-sense actions will, for political reasons, be the end of any immigration reform, one of the messages that came from the November election is that we, the American people, want our elected officials to work together to solve our nation’s challenges. Drawing political lines in the sand over immigration will not resolve the larger question of whether the U.S. will continue to deny basic human rights to the 11 million immigrants who were invited into our country to provide cheap labor. I and my brother bishops will continue to advocate for executive and congressional action that recognizes the economic and cultural value immigrants provide to our nation, and treats them with the dignity due to all human beings. 

It is my sincere hope that our legislators will acknowledge that the president’s proposal is but a first step toward lasting, positive change; recognizing that only Congress possesses the power to expand the president’s short-term solutions into a long-term immigration policy that is both just and humane.  

Although we bishops support President Obama taking executive action to help relieve the suffering that has gone on for far too long, we also encourage the new Congress  to make the most of the opportunity to pass an immigration bill to reform our broken system, understanding that it would supersede the president’s action. We are ready and willing to work with Congress on just, humane legislation.  Any executive action the president takes should not be a reason for political payback, it should be an incentive to make lasting, positive changes to our broken immigration system, and we urge both parties to work together toward this goal.