Strangers No Longer

Catholic Teachings on Immigration Reform

by Sue Weishar, Ph.D.

The prospect for comprehensive immigration reform appears hopeful in 2013. When President Obama was asked by Meet the Press host David Gregory on December 30th what his second-term equivalent would be to his all-out effort to pass health care reform in his first term, the president responded, “Fixing our broken immigration system is a top priority. I will introduce legislation in the first year to get that done.” [1] According to Washington insiders, a group of six Senate leaders, three from each party [2], began work on an immigration bill shortly after the election. It is expected the “Gang of Six” will release a set of principles shortly after the inauguration and then introduce full legislative language in March or April.  A vote is not expected until June at the earliest. [3]

To be decided in addressing the future of our nation’s estimated 11.1 million undocumented immigrants will be who is eligible to apply for legalization, whether legalization will lead to citizenship, how future employment verification systems will be designed, and whether or not U.S. guest worker programs will be overhauled, among several other important policy considerations. Various aspects of immigration reform will be a focus of JSRI publications in the coming year. This article will look at the principles and concerns that inform the U.S. Catholic Church’s response to immigration reform legislation.

2013 marks the 10th anniversary of the landmark pastoral letter by the Catholic Bishops of Mexico and the United States, Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope, which identifies the following five principles, based on Scriptures and Catholic Social Teaching, that guide the Church’s views on migration:

1. Persons have the right to find opportunities in their homeland. (34.) All persons have the right to find in their own countries the economic, political, and social opportunities to live in dignity and achieve a full life through the use of their God-given gifts. In this context, work that provides a just, living wage is a basic human need.
2. Persons have the right to migrate to support themselves and their families. (35.) The Church recognizes that all the goods of the earth belong to all people. When persons cannot find employment in their country of origin to support themselves and their families, they have a right to find work elsewhere in order to survive. Sovereign nations should provide ways to accommodate this right.
3. Sovereign nations have the right to control their borders. (36.) The Church recognizes the right of sovereign nations to control their territories but rejects such control when it is exerted merely for the purpose of acquiring additional wealth. More powerful economic nations, which have the ability to protect and feed their residents, have a stronger obligation to accommodate migration flows.
4. Refugees and asylum seekers should be afforded protection. (37.) Those who flee wars and persecution should be protected by the global community. This requires, at a minimum, that migrants have a right to claim refugee status without incarceration and to have their claims fully considered by a competent authority.
5. The human dignity and human rights of undocumented migrants should be respected. (38.) Regardless of their legal status, migrants, like all persons, possess inherent human dignity that should be respected. Often they are subject to punitive laws and harsh treatment from enforcement officers from both receiving and transit countries. Government policies that respect the basic human rights of the undocumented are necessary.

Based on the above principles, the U.S. Bishops have offered the following recommendations for immigration reform legislation: [4]

• Earned legalization that allows foreign nationals of good moral character to access a path to legal permanent residency that can lead to citizenship. Any proposal that would keep formerly undocumented immigrants in a tenuous legal status and not permit them the opportunity to earn the rights and benefits of full citizenship would not be acceptable to the bishops.

• Future Worker Program. Recognizing the importance that low-skilled labor plays in our economy and the history of worker abuse in the H-2A (seasonal agriculture) and H-2B (seasonal non-agricultural) visa programs, the bishops call for reform of worker programs that include workplace protections, living wage levels, family unity, and safeguards against the displacement of U.S. workers.

• Family-based Immigration Reform. The bishops will insist that family-based immigration remain a corner-stone of the U.S. immigration program. To address the long waits for family members to be reunited, the bishops want to see an expansion of the number of family visas available.

• Restoration of Due Process Rights. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 1996 has had devastating impacts on immigrant due process rights and family unity. At a minimum, the bishops would like to see IIRARA’s three and ten year bars to re-entry eliminated.

• Addressing Root Causes. Recognizing that many immigrants feel compelled to leave their home countries because of crushing poverty, widespread violence, and persecution, the bishops want Congress to address the push factors of migration.

• Enforcement. The U.S. Catholic bishops recognize the right of the U.S. government to control its borders, but believe enforcement measures should be targeted, proportional, and humane, and focus on those who truly threaten public safety, including drug traffickers, human traffickers, and would-be terrorists.

Although Strangers No Longer has been much discussed in the Catholic immigrant advocacy world since its release, I was surprised to learn recently that many committed Catholics are unaware of this beautiful document.  This became apparent during the past year when JSRI teamed with Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans and local parishes to organize three “Catholic Dialogs on Immigration”. The purpose of the dialogs was to bring together Catholics with varying views on immigration to listen respectfully to each others’ perspectives and experiences and learn about the Church’s teachings on immigration.

A total of 122 Catholics, both native and foreign-born, from over 20 parishes participated in the dialogs. During the portion of the three-hour dialog sessions when the Church’s teachings on migration were presented and discussed, participants were provided, in addition to the five principles of migration found in Strangers No Longer, the U.S. Bishops’ recommendations for U.S. immigration policy reform.

In open-ended evaluations completed by dialog participants, to the question “What is the most important thing you learned or experienced this morning/evening?”  the most common response had to do with the Church’s teachings or position on immigration. I recall one dialog participant, a former priest who has worked for many years on social justice issues, who was quite upset that he had not heard of the teachings before.

It has often been said that Catholic Social Teaching is the best kept secret of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Dialog experience tells me that when Catholics are exposed to the Catholic Social Teachings on immigration, its core message of respect for the dignity and sanctity of the human person and the need for people and their governments to work for the common good resonates across the spectrum of political opinion.

To keep the pressure on Congress to finally enact just and compassionate immigration reform, the Justice for Immigrants campaign of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has launched a postcard campaign targeting members of Congress. An easily accessible electronic postcard lists the key issues that the Bishops want to see in immigration reform legislation. It is important to send these postcards now, well before the mark-up of bills in March and April.

[1] The president also said that he would like to continue to improve the economy and expand energy production.

[2] The six senators are: Democrats Charles Schumer, NY; Dick Durbin, IL, and Robert Menendez, NJ; and Republicans John McCain, AZ; Lindsey Graham, SC; and Marco Rubio; FL.

[3] Seth Freed Wessler, “What to expect from immigration reform, and when to expect it”, January 7, 2012, Colorlines.

[4] The recommendations described below are based largely on the January 2011 document, Catholic Church’s Position on Immigration Reform.