Editorial

The hard work of immigration reform

The longer Washington waits, the worse the problem gets. Communities are strained and millions live in a constant state of uncertainty. This serves neither justice nor the common good. —St. Paul-Minneapolis Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda

The recent chaos in Minnesota has called attention to the fact that the immigration system in the United State of America is severely broken. This is no surprise to Catholics and other people of good will who have been urging immigration reform for decades now.

But as St. Paul-Minneapolis Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda argued in a recent Wall Street Journal column, “The longer Washington waits, the worse the problem gets.”

The Catholic Church in the United States is an immigrant Church with a long history of embracing diverse newcomers and providing assistance and pastoral care to immigrants, migrants, refugees and people on the move.

According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB): “In 2003, the Bishops of the United States, together with the Bishops of Mexico, in the pastoral statement, ‘Strangers No Longer:  Together on the Journey of Hope’/‘Juntos en el Camino de la Esperanza Ya no Somos Extranjeros,’ acknowledged that the current immigration system is badly in need

of reform, and offered a comprehensive set of recommendations for changing U.S. laws and policies to bring about a more humane and just immigration system in the United States.”

Sadly, the recommendations from the Mexican and U.S. bishops have been largely ignored, and the result is the unprecedented chaos and violence that we recently witnessed in Minnesota and many other regions of our country.

“We had a chance in 2013,” Archbishop Hebda writes, “when a bipartisan bill passed the Senate. It was a strong bill that provided billions for border security and a 12-year path to citizenship for law-abiding undocumented immigrants. The House never took it up.”

How sad to be so close to a reasonable and fair approach to immigration policy only to have our national leaders—from both parties—succumb to blurred vision and bipartisan incompetence.

As Archbishop Hebda notes, there is plenty of blame on all sides: “Recent failures can’t be ignored. The nation was poorly served by those who threw the border open. The flood of migrants overwhelmed local communities, eroded public trust and weakened the rule of law. Compassion divorced from order isn’t compassion at all; it’s negligence.

“At the same time, it’s wrong to blame undocumented immigrants themselves, many of whom came here seeking safety, work or family reunification. Solidarity can’t be selective. We must stand with citizens and undocumented immigrants together as human beings created in God’s image.”

The Catholic Church approaches the issue of immigration reform from a both/and perspective. On the one hand, our country has the right to control its borders and to regulate the flow of legal immigration. On the other hand, individuals and families who come to us seeking to become a legitimate part of our national community must be treated with human dignity and respect.

According to the USCCB: “The U.S. Catholic Bishops accept the legitimate role of the U.S. government in intercepting unauthorized migrants who attempt to travel to the United States, although are deeply concerned about indiscriminate enforcement that separates families and which uses migrant detention as a deterrence strategy. The bishops also believe that by increasing lawful means for migrants to enter, live and work in the United States, law enforcement will be better able to focus upon those who truly threaten public safety: drug and human traffickers, smugglers and would-be terrorists. Any enforcement measures must be targeted, proportional and humane.”

In this light, as Archbishop Hebda says, “it is right to respect the efforts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers when they are fulfilling their mission to identify and detain serious criminals who have illegally entered the country. The removal of dangerous people serves the common good.”

However, we object to heavy-handed and indiscriminate measures that may be well-intentioned, but which end up doing more harm than good.

In the end, what’s required is a comprehensive, long-term solution that reflects reality rather than ideology.

As the U.S. bishops have argued for decades now, this solution must include the granting of a lawful status for those who have put down roots, contributed to their communities and lived here for years.

“A workable solution would also have to acknowledge that some people will be deported,” Archbishop Hebda writes. “Mercy doesn’t negate consequences, and compassion doesn’t mean wide-open borders.”

—Daniel Conway