‘Would Jesus welcome the immigrant?’

Diocese gathers to discuss immigration and needed reforms: Part II

The first speaker at the Justice for Immigrants gathering Feb. 3 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe was a young man of 33, a husband and father. The second speaker was middle-aged, dressed in a suit and tie, also married with children.

The two have lived in the United States a combined 45 years – the youngest has no distinguishable accent. Yet neither has been successful in wading through the red-tape that is the U.S. immigration system.

"The immigration system is broken," Bishop Ronald Gilmore told those gathered, and nobody knows that more than these two men, their families, and the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.

"My wife and I came to this country 15 years ago looking for a better situation for work, this being the land of opportunity," the older man said. "It’s very sad to be in the position that after all this time, we can’t go back and bury my father-in-law. My papers are not completely straight and immigration will not give me permission to go. Eleven years [since I applied for my papers] and there is still no resolution."

The "Justice for Immigrants" campaign, which is taking place in dozens of dioceses across the country, isn’t pushing for an open border policy, or for a blanket amnesty for undocumented immigrants. Instead, the campaign is pressing for immigration laws that promote just pathways for migrant workers and their families to achieve legal status.

"Our immigration laws and policies leave a great deal to be desired," Bishop Gilmore stated in a session for priests held prior to the Feb. 3 public meeting. "They are unjust in many respects. The joint pastoral letter of the Mexican and United States bishops has five basic elements that summarize all there is to be said of the Justice for Immigrants campaign:

• "Persons have the right to find opportunities in their homeland, and the government has the obligation to provide that opportunity.

• "Persons have the right to migrate to support themselves and their families. Everybody has the right to move when opportunities are not present. They have the right to emigrate.

• "Sovereign nations have the right to control their borders." But, he added, "we want proper, rational … control. That right has never been considered absolute. Human rights have to be considered first.

• "Refugees and asylum seekers should be afforded protection. Everybody should welcome those seeking refuge.

• "Even the undocumented person deserves total human respect. They should not be forced to live or work in deplorable conditions. You would not want to be treated that way; I would not want to be treated that way."

One participant wondered if the current U.S. immigration system were in place more than a century ago, "would most U.S. citizens themselves be descended from ‘illegal’ immigrants? And if HR 4437 [a bill soon to go before the Senate] had been enacted a century ago, would most U.S. citizens, if living in this country at all, be descended from convicted felons?"

HR 4437 seeks to criminalize undocumented immigrants and those who render assistance – which includes several Church organizations – rather than have it be a civil violation, as it is now.

Debbie Snapp, program director for Catholic Social Service, offers a class entitled "Just Faith," which examines social justice issues in the diocese and beyond. She noted that according to several local civic organizations, HR 4437, if enacted, would have severe negative repercussions for southwest Kansas.

According to a new report by the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, it’s not the place of the undocumented immigrant in the U.S. workforce that is threatening jobs for U.S. citizens, it’s the disempowerment they feel within the system. The report contends that an employers’ ability to threaten deportation presents the real danger to U.S. workers.

"When immigrants lack rights in the workplace," the report reads, "labor standards are driven down, and all working people have less opportunity to enter or remain part of the middle class. So a pro-middle class immigration policy must guarantee immigrants full labor rights and make sure that employers cannot use deportation as a coercive tool in the labor market" to drive down all wages.

The report also contends that "because the American middle class relies on the economic contributions of immigrants…immigration policy should bolster — not undermine — the critical contribution that immigrants make to our economy as workers, entrepreneurs, taxpayers, and consumers."

Father Tony Judge, C.Ss.R., a member of the Redemptorist Hispanic Missionary Team out of Liberal, said that we all must answer the call to "conversion, communion, and solidarity."

Father Judge urged those gathered to first ask themselves: "How do I live that is not in line with the Gospel of Jesus Christ?"

He then asked them to consider, "As our hearts change and we are able to see Jesus Christ in others, we have to do what we can to create communion between us. We have a responsibility to create communion."

And finally, "We then have a responsibility to create solidarity between all people, for we are all created in the image of God."