Speaking for the U.S. bishops, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los
Angeles told the House Judiciary Committee on Jan. 26 that the country
should not return to a model of immigration enforcement based on
workplace raids.
Instead, he urged lawmakers to seek immigration reform
that is both humane and just.
“Immigration is ultimately a humanitarian issue, because it impacts
the basic human rights and dignity of the human person,” he explained in
his written testimony.
“The United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops believes that the humanitarian costs of workplace raids are
immeasurable, and unacceptable in a civilized society.” Archbishop Gomez
chairs the conference's Committee on Migration.
With their new majority in the House of Representatives, some
Republicans are seeking a return to the immigration enforcement
strategies of the Bush administration, which focused on arresting groups
of unauthorized migrant workers.
The Obama administration has actually
deported greater numbers of illegal immigrants, while shifting its
enforcement focus onto employers that hire them.
Archbishop Gomez rejected any notion that the government should place
its highest priority on rounding up those who have broken U.S.
immigration laws.
The workplace raids, he said, often had the effect of
breaking up families, especially by separating children from their
parents for significant periods of time.
While acknowledging the nation's duty to secure its borders and
enforce civil law, Archbishop Gomez indicated that the family –as an
institution which is prior to any state– must be given priority, as a
matter of natural law.
Law enforcement, he said, should not be carried out in a manner that
destroys the stability and integrity of vulnerable families.
“The U.S.
Catholic Bishops have witnessed first-hand the sufferings of immigrant
families, and are deeply troubled by the collateral human consequences
of enforcement raids on the family unit.”
“The U.S. Catholic Bishops believe that immigrants should come to the
United States lawfully,” he stated. “But we also understand that the
current immigration legal framework does not adequately reunify
families, and is non-responsive to our country's need for labor.”
The economic aspect of illegal immigration is a priority for House
Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R–Texas), who said on the day
of the immigration hearings that “citizens and legal immigrants should
not be forced to compete with illegal workers for jobs.”
Kumar Kibble,
Deputy Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, responded to the
chairman's concern by noting that a “focus on holding employers
accountable” was addressing the same problem more comprehensively.
For his part, Archbishop Gomez noted that citizens and legally
authorized immigrants were often unwilling to take jobs in the
difficult, low-skilled industries that employ unauthorized workers.
He
also observed that many of these workers, particularly those from
Mexico, had found it “impossible for many to earn a living wage and meet
the basic needs of their families” in their country of origin.
“It is clear that another approach is necessary,” he said. “We
support comprehensive immigration reform to fix what has become a broken
system.”
He explained that such reform would include earned legalization for
immigrants of proven character, reform of the family-based immigration
system, expansion and streamlining of temporary worker programs, and
greater care for immigrants' right to due process under the law.
“By increasing lawful means for migrants to enter, live, and work in
the United States,” he noted, “law enforcement will be better able to
focus upon those who truly threaten public safety: drug and human
traffickers, smugglers, and would-be terrorists.”