Church involved in national, local immigration discussions
SALT LAKE CITY — The release of a list of names of 1,300 purported illegal immigrants has spurred dialog about immigration reform on both national and local levels, and officials from the Diocese of Salt Lake City are involved in those discussions.
On July 16, Bishop John C. Wester participated in a press conference with Utah Senator Luz Robles, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, Sutherland Institute President Paul T. Mero and Clarissa Martinez, director of immigration and national campaigns for the National Council of La Raza. Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, moderated the conference, which was called four days after the list was released to law enforcement agencies and news media.
"As a result of this breach, all residents of Utah, from U.S. citizens to legal immigrants to the undocumented, are wondering if their privacy has been violated," Noorani said.
The release of the list doesn’t reflect most Utahns’ moral nature, Bishop Wester said. "If I feel vulnerable because of this type of action, I can only imagine what some of our immigrants are feeling like, those who are documented and those who are undocumented," he said. "This just keeps underscoring the importance of our federal government acting on comprehensive immigration reform… The states are forced to pick up the ball on this and frankly this is something that leads to these kinds of incidents and this kind of attitude. We’ve got to have immigration reform."
The state of Utah will take no legal action against those whose names are on the list, Shurtleff said at the conference. Subsequently, two people were fired from the Dept. of Workforce Services for allegedly compiling and distributing the list; the Attorney General’s office is investigating whether charges against them will be brought.
Bishop Wester was unable to attend the roundtable on immigration reform that was called by Gov. Gary Herbert on July 20, but the diocese was represented by Dee Rowland, the government liaison. Also attending the forum were a wide range of legislators, law enforcement officials, business representatives and other community representatives.
Although no conclusion was reached, forum participants agreed that the U.S. government must act on immigration because it’s a federal issue. However, there are matters that the state must address, they said, although there was no consensus on what could be done about the need for workers, the economic impact of illegal immigrants or what to do about those already in the state illegally.
The Church needs to speak on the issue, Rowland said, because "we believe that all of us are sisters and brothers in God. That includes citizens and non-citizens. That includes the unemployed in our country, as well as the unemployed who come here seeking food for their families."
Utah officials should focus on putting pressure on the federal government to enact comprehensive immigration reform, Rowland said, echoing Bishop Wester’s position.
"We need to have comprehensive immigration reform and Arizona-type bills don’t help matters at all," Bishop Wester said in an interview after the July 16 conference. "They make things worse."
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