Church advocates for human rights of immigrants

LOGAN — The lives of millions of immigrants have been affected due to a variety of anti-immigrant measures adopted by some states.

In Utah, Senate Bill 81 was approved during the last session. But before it is effective in July 2009, a legislative Immigration Interim Committee was appointed to study the issue in more depth.

Senate Bill 81 requires an agency or political subdivision of the state to verify the lawful presence in the United States of an individual who has applied for a state or local public benefit. It also requires an applicant for a state or local public benefit to certify the applicant’s lawful presence in the United States, and provides penalties for making a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation in the certification.

The bill includes other provisions, but Dee Rowland, the government liaison for the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City is particularly concerned about the provision that allows the enforcement of federal immigration and customs laws within the state by state and local law enforcement personnel.

"It would lead to racial profiling. Everyone with brown skin would become a suspect, and it would make the undocumented reluctant to report crimes in their neighborhoods, for example, domestic violence, in fear of deportation," said Rowland.

Rowland, along with Father Clarence Sandoval, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Logan, advocated for the human rights of immigrants in front of state legislators for approximately an hour on June 19 in Logan.

"We feel compelled to raise our voices on behalf of those who are marginalized and whose God-given rights are not respected," she said.

During an interview with the Intermountain Catholic, Rowland emphasized the difference between a criminal offense and a civil offense. People who cross the border without documents or overstay their visas commit a civil offense, which is comparable to driving over the speed limit.

In the meeting with the committee she said that, "Punishing criminals is justice. That’s a good thing. But turning poor people who seek a dignified existence for their families into criminals in order to punish them is not justice."

However, Rowland clarified: "The Catholic Bishops do not condone unlawful entry or circumventions of our nation’s immigration laws."

"Our nation’s economy demands foreign labor, yet there are insufficient visas to meet this demand. Close family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents face interminable separations, sometimes of 20 years or longer, due to backlogs of available visas," she said.

Rowland also revealed that the belief that immigrants increase crime rates, decrease job opportunities, and do not pay taxes is untrue. "Immigrants do pay taxes," she said. "Between half and three quarters of immigrants pay state and federal taxes. They pay sales taxes, where applicable, and other taxes either directly or indirectly."

While Rowland presented her case with numbers, Fr. Sandoval gave a moving account of the effects the raid of December 12, 2006 had on the families of those arrested by immigration agents while they worked at the Swift meat packing plant. "It was devastating for our community," he said. "The children were the most impacted…they would ask ‘where is my mom’ or rather ‘where are my mom and dad?’ If they were both taken."

He also told the story of a father who had papers and was afraid to leave his house, even to go to work. His wife was deported, and their daughter could not sleep for days because she missed her mom.

"The Catholic Bishops support an earned legalization for those in this country in an unauthorized status and who have built up equities and are otherwise admissible. This is not Amnesty," said Rowland.

"What’s interesting enough is that when I sit and talk to these individuals, they say they want limits, they want boundaries, they want laws," said Fr. Sandoval. "But what are the laws? They’ve been waiting for them. They want to be able to be citizens of this country. They want to work in a lawful way,"

And he added: "Ultimately, what’s really important is that you listen with compassion and heart…because if you were to walk in (their) shoes and if you were to listen to (their) aspirations, then you would get another picture of who (they) are."