As the Senate hotly debates competing immigration reform proposals this March, Catholic voters are encouraged to evaluate which programs truly advance comprehensive immigration reform.
The national Catholic campaign --- Justice for Immigrants --- has asserted that comprehensive immigration reform would include the following elements:
---a broad-based earned legalization program for the undocumented in the U.S.;
---reforming the family-based immigration system to allow family members to reunite with loved ones living in the United States;
---reforming the employment-based immigration system (such as a guest-worker program) to provide legal pathways for migrants to come and work in a safe, humane and orderly manner;
---abandonment of the border "blockade" enforcement strategy, and;
---restoration of due process protections for immigrants seeking court hearings to resolve their legal status.
Immigrant advocacy groups and the U.S. bishops acknowledge that an effective response to global migration must also include efforts to reduce global poverty through trade, aid and debt reforms. Justice for Immigrants also is working closely with the Catholic Campaign Against Global Poverty.
As a consequence of a globalized economy, "people are on the move throughout the world. They are moving to where they can survive and support their families," said Claretian Missionary Father Steve Niskanen," pastor of Our Lady Queen of Angeles Church (La Placita) in Los Angeles. The church provides sanctuary to immigrants.
Immigrant advocates said that Senate proposals in which the bulk of the resources are spent on building a wall at the Mexico-U.S. border or significantly increasing the number of border police fails to address the root causes of migration.
"It's a waste of resources. It's not working," said Mark Potter, provincial assistant for social ministries for the California Province of Jesuits. "The building up of a high-tech border fence and increased police presence is not a proactive way to address immigration problems."
In March the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to contentiously debate various immigration proposals to try and produce a bill to bring to the Senate floor. The tough fight could determine the future of an estimated 11 million immigrants who live in the U.S. without legal documents, and the companies and organizations who hire them.
McCain/Kennedy
Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) have introduced legislation (S. 1033, The Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act) that Catholic leaders said would begin to establish comprehensive immigration reform.
This bill would create a guest-worker program and create temporary visas (three to six years) for foreign workers to fill jobs Americans have not wanted. Employers would be required to abide by U.S. labor and tax laws.
An employer also can sponsor the visa holder for a green card; or, after four years of work, the worker can apply for the green card. The green card is part of the path to naturalized and legal citizenship.
Additionally, undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. can register for the temporary visa, valid for six years after showing a work history and a clean criminal record. Spouses and children are also eligible. In order to qualify for permanent status, workers will have to clear an additional security/background check, and pay a fine of $2,000 per adult.
"This bill promotes values like family unity and legalization for workers who have earned it," said Maria Elena Perales, director of the archdiocesan Office of Justice and Peace. "It doesn't reform the broken immigration system, but it definitely helps. If we want to fix social problems, we have to begin by uniting families."
The measure addresses border enforcement through the development of multilateral agreements between the governments of North America to improve border security.
Cornyn/Kyl
The proposal of Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the Senate subcommittee on immigration, and Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate subcommittee on homeland security, would create a two-year guest-worker plan, after which a worker must return to his/her home country for a year. Workers can participate in the program three times (for a total of six years employment in the U.S.), but ultimately have to return to their home countries. Family members can visit the principal worker for no more than 30 days within a given year, thereby keeping families separated for long periods of time.
S. 1438 (The Comprehensive Enforcement and Immigration Reform Act of 2005) does not meet the national Catholic immigration campaign's test for real comprehensive immigration reform because it does not provide a path to permanent residency or naturalized citizenship for millions of undocumented workers currently living in the U.S.
At most, undocumented workers can apply for Deferred Mandatory Departure, which authorizes them to work in the U.S. for five years. Failure to depart after five years disqualifies workers from applying for another guest-worker program or other immigration benefit for a period of ten years. Spouses and children are eligible for DMD status but not for a work permit.
The measure focuses primarily on border enforcement, including $5 billion over five years to increase cameras, sensors, stations and checkpoints at the border. It will also require up to 10,000 border patrol agents and 10,000 detention beds to hold immigrants in detention pending deportation. An additional 10,000 agents will investigate employers hiring undocumented workers.
Specter
Similar to the Cornyn/Kyl bill, the proposal of Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) would create a guest-worker program that would temporarily legalize the status of millions of undocumented immigrants. Qualified workers could apply for a three-year work visa and a one three-year extension after which they are required to return to their home countries. The plan does not provide a path to permanent residency or citizenship for immigrant workers.
The bill would increase the number of green cards granted annually to workers from 140,000 to 290,000. It would also increase the number of visas given to unskilled workers.
The measure also includes tough border enforcement measures by increasing border patrol agents, updating border technology, increasing detention bed space and expanding expedited removal along the southern border.
Sensenbrenner
The bill proposed by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wisc.) passed the U.S. House in December (239-182). The measure, H.R. 4437 the Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, has been broadly criticized by business, labor and religious groups as being an enforcement-only bill.
Up to 700 miles of fencing along the southwest border would be erected by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). State and local law enforcement are authorized to enforce federal immigration laws and state and local government can lose federal funding for refusing to participate.
The bill does not offer a guest-worker program, nor does it provide a way for undocumented workers to legalize their status in the U.S.
Currently illegal entry into the United States is a misdemeanor. The measure proposes making the act of living here without legal documents ("unlawful presence") an aggravated felony punishable by up to a year in prison, subsequent deportation and disqualification from being able to re-enter legally.
The bill would expand the definition of smuggling to include assistance to an undocumented person. Anyone or any organization who "assists" an individual without documentation "to reside or remain" in the United States knowingly or with "reckless disregard" as to the person's legal status would be liable for criminal prosecution and five years in prison. The bill criminalizes doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers and parish clergy, religious and staff who assist undocumented workers. The U.S. bishops are strongly opposed to this bill.
The diversity visa lottery program, which allows 50,000 immigrants each year from countries around the world to permanently reside in the United States, would be eliminated, thereby making it even more difficult for immigrants to enter legally.
Of all the bills, Catholic leaders said this measure erodes the legal due process of immigrants. For example, asylum seekers and refugees who are convicted of a minor offense, like petty theft, are barred from permanent legal residency and citizenship. And those visiting the U.S. on a tourist or student visa waive their right to a court hearing if they are later charged with an immigration violation.
Family dignity
Angelica Salas, executive director of CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles) and a member of the archdiocesan Justice for Immigrants campaign, said she was advocating policies "that actually uplift every human being. And we can't have policies that promote the separation of families." A member of Sacred Heart Church in Altadena and a daughter of immigrant parents, Salas said she was urging parishioners throughout Los Angeles to call or write their senators and the president and to make their views on immigration known. Editor's note: For more information on the Catholic campaign Justice for Immigrants, including Parish Kit materials, see www. justiceforimmigrants.org.
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