immigration

The Immigration Task Force meets on the 2nd Tuesday of the month.  Please contact our office if you would like to join the discussion.

How to Support the Children

While some migrant children in this crisis have relocated with local families, there is no word yet as to whether any larger numbers of them would be temporarily placed in communities in our Archdiocese while their legal claims are processed, they are reunited with their families, or they are returned home.  Please stay tuned for volunteer requests should this be the case.  For now, we encourage you to:

ADVOCATE: Contact Congress today to urge them to respond to these children with compassion, giving them the due process afforded to those who have legitimate persecution claims.  Send your U.S. Senators and Representative and email by going to the CRS Advocacy page.

EDUCATE: Share the in-depth information provided by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on this crisis in your parishes, school, or faith community.  Access the bishops’ Unaccompanied Migrant Children Resource Kit” by going to www.justiceforimmigrants.org

DONATE: Consider contributing to Catholic Charities agencies working on the border to address the immediate needs of these children by going to www.catholiccharitiesusa.org.

In 2003, the U.S. Catholic bishops released, Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope a statement outlining the Church’s teaching on migration and its position concerning comprehensive immigration reform.  The bishops spell out five fundamental principles that should guide any nation’s immigration system.

1. Persons have the right to find opportunities in their homeland.
2. Persons have the right to migrate to support themselves and their families.
3. Sovereign nations have a right to control their borders.
4. Refugees and asylum seekers should be afforded protection.
5. The human rights and the human dignity of undocumented migrants should be respected.

To live up to these principles, we hope that we can secure reform for which the U.S. Catholic bishops, and many other faith communities, have been calling for some time now:

• A path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented in the nation;
• The protection and enhancement of the family-based immigration system, including the reduction in backlogs and shortening of waiting times for husbands and wives and their families;
• A program which allows low-skilled workers to enter and work in the United States legally and safely and includes appropriate wage and worker protections;
• The restoration of due process protections for immigrants removed by the 1996 Illegal Immigrant Responsibility Act; and
• Policies which address root causes, or push factors, or irregular migration, such as persecution and the absence of living wage jobs in sending communities.

You can learn much more about the Church’s teaching and activities on immigration reform at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Justice For Immigrants campaign site: www.justiceforimmigrants.org