NEWS STORY: Bishops criticize `punitive’ immigration bills

c. 1996 Religion News Service PORTLAND, Ore. _ The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops Friday denounced proposed immigration legislation as”punitive,”saying it would target the poor and return refugees seeking political asylum back to their oppressors and possible death. In a statement adopted Friday (June 21) on the second day of the three-day spring meeting of the […]

c. 1996 Religion News Service

PORTLAND, Ore. _ The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops Friday denounced proposed immigration legislation as”punitive,”saying it would target the poor and return refugees seeking political asylum back to their oppressors and possible death.

In a statement adopted Friday (June 21) on the second day of the three-day spring meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB), the bishops said the legislation”runs counter both to Christian teaching and the proud tradition of this nation of immigrants.” The statement, approved unanimously by the approximately 250 bishops attending the meeting, was issued by Bishop Anthony M. Pilla of Cleveland, president of the NCCB and its social policy arm, the U.S. Catholic Conference.


Coming one day after the bishops sharply criticized President Clinton on the abortion issue, the immigration statement is an implicit rebuke of Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole.

On Wednesday, Dole gave his support to a provision of the House-passed immigration bill that would allow states to deny education benefits to children of illegal immigrants.”We shouldn’t stick the states with billions and billions of dollars of extra expenses, particularly a state as large as California,”Dole said during a campaign stop in Los Angeles.”This (education of immigrant children) is one of the most expensive mandates of all _ and you’re picking up the tab _ that states provide a free education to people who according to our own laws should not be in the United States,”Dole said.

But the bishops said that if the Dole-backed provision becomes law, it would leave immigrant youth”illiterate and idle, turned out on the streets to be tempted by crime and delinquency _ or to become … victims”of crime and delinquency.”Surely, the common good cannot be served by such measures,”they said.

Both the House and Senate have passed sweeping immigration legislation and the bills are awaiting reconciliation by a conference committee of the two bodies.

Pilla took issue with elements of both bills, adding that neither is acceptable in terms of the policy positions of the church.

The statement singled out four elements for particular criticism:

_ The Dole-backed provision in the House permitting states to deny education benefit to children of illegal immigrants.

_ Measures in both bills that the bishops said would eliminate”even the most basic safety net”of social services for legal immigrants.


_ A provision in the House bill that would require citizens and permanent residents to have an income 200 percent above the poverty level before they could sponsor spouses, parents or siblings as immigrants. Pilla’s statement said the provision would undermine family reunification efforts.

_ Provisions for dealing with refugees seeking political asylum that Pilla said would”cripple”the U.S. asylum system and end many procedural protections for refugees.

The new statement echoes one the bishops issued a year ago as the national debate on immigration was just beginning.”Regrettably, since our last statement just a year ago, the public debate has become even more acrimonious, and Congress is now considering the final form of restrictive legislation that runs counter both to Christian teaching and the proud traditions of this nation of immigrants,”the new statement said.

Pilla’s statement expressed”grave concern and dismay”at the provisions it said would”target the most vulnerable among us _ children, the sick and the needy _ in an impractical effort to cure our nation’s social and economic ills.”Health care and education are among the most basic of human rights to which all have a moral claim, yet this legislation seeks to restrict severely or flatly deny these rights to those who were not born in this country,”it said.”Indeed, there is a disregard for human life in this legislation which is inconsistent with the Gospel and which I find morally objectionable.” Pilla said the pending bills are”so overreaching and restrictive”that it would be”almost impossible for legal taxpaying immigrants to seek assistance when confronted with these vicissitudes of life.”The undocumented, as illegal aliens are known,”are put even more at risk,”Pilla said.”They may be faced with deportation simply for seeking food and medical care for themselves and their children,”Pilla’s statement said.”By denying these most basic needs merely on the basis of where a person was born is to place the health and well-being of the entire community at risk.” Pilla said the financial requirements for immigrants to bring family members to America are”contradictory and counterproductive”and run counter to the nation’s emphasis on family values.”Immigrants, like the native born, draw strength from their families in time of need.” On asylum seekers, the statement said those fleeing persecution”have a special moral standing”and that if the law is enacted, they”risk the real possibility of being returned to their oppressors”and could face possible death.

The statement recognized the right and responsibility of nations to regulate their borders but said that in”welcoming them (immigrants), we welcome Jesus himself.”

MJP END ANDERSON

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!