HZ ov 16,2010
SOCIAL JUSTICE
NEWS ANALYSIS
OUR SUNDAY VISITOR
Answering tough questions about immigration
U.S. bishops advocate mending broken system and
improving economic development in poor countries
By Bishop John C. Wester
Editor's note: In light of the
recent debate over Arizona’s
new immigration law and re-
sponses to Archbishop Jose H.
Gomez’s essay “Archbishop:
Catholics’ role in immigration
reform solution” in our May
2 issue, Our Sunday Visitor
asked Bishop John C. Wester
of Salt Lake City, chairman of
the U.S. bishops’ Committee on
Migration, to answer some of
our readers’ toughest questions
about the Church’s position on
immigration.
Question: What don’t the
bishops understand about “il-
legal”? Why disrespect the rule
of law?
Answer: The U.S. bishops
and the teachings of the Catho-
lic Church have consistently
respected the right of the sov-
ereign to control its borders,
as well as the rule of civil law.
However, the Church, along
with other members of our
democratic society, has the
right to work to change laws
which are believed to violate
basic human dignity, dignity
imbued by the Creator.
In the case of immigration,
the U.S. bishops believe that
the broken U.S. immigration
system contributes to the ex-
ploitation of migrant workers
in the workplace; their abuse by
ruthless smugglers; and their
deaths in the desert as they seek
to find work to support their
families. They come illegally
because there are insufficient
visas under the current system
to come legally. Our system
contains only 5,000 permanent
visas for unskilled laborers to
come to the United States, but
the demand for their work is
much higher, since as many as
300,000 undocumented people
each year are absorbed into the
U.S. workforce.
Comprehensive — immigra-
tion reform, which the U.S.
bishops support, would replace
illegality with a system based on
legal presence and legal entry,
thus restoring the rule of law
to a chaotic system while also
protecting the basic dignity,
and lives, of our fellow broth-
ers and sisters. It would require
those who have broken the law
to get on the right side of it by
paying a fine, taxes, learning
English and waiting in the back
of a long line to have a chance
to become a U.S. citizen. This
“path to citizenship” is in the
best interests of migrants, who
are able to become full mem-
bers of their communities, and
our nation, which will continue
to benefit from their contribu-
tions without sacrificing our
long-held values as a nation of
immigrants: freedom, fairness
and opportunity.
Question: Is this welcom-
ing of Latinos because they are
Catholic? If not, do you also
support opening our borders
to impoverished people from
Arab and Asian countries?
Answer: The support of the
U.S. bishops for immigration
reform is not because the ma-
jority of immigrants at this
point in our history are La-
tino or Catholic. The Catholic
Church heeds Our Lord’s call
to “welcome the stranger” to all
children of God, regardless of
their ethnicity, national origin,
race or religion. This is evident
in all of the social-service pro-
grams of the Catholic Church,
which base their outreach on
“need,” not “creed.”
Having said that, the fact
that the majority of immigrants
are Catholic makes it more real
for many Catholics, since many
immigrants are present in our
service programs, health care
centers, schools and parishes.
We, as a Catholic community,
directly witness the human
consequences of a broken sys-
tem each day, when immigrant
families come to pastors and
employees and ask for help for
a family member who has been
detained or deported by im-
migration authorities. We can
only help these families, and
keep them together, by chang-
ing our immigration laws.
Finally, despite assertions to
the contrary, the U.S. bishops
do not support “open borders,”
but support generous, but rea-
sonable, immigration policies
that serve the common good.
Question: The current situ-
ation of illegal immigration is
causing an unsustainable strain
on social services. Do the bish-
ops not see that as a problem?
Answer: There are several
myths in this area. First of
all, most studies show that,
although at an early age im-
migrants consume more than
they contribute, over a lifetime
they are net contributors to our
economy through the taxes they
pay, the goods they produce
and consume, and their labor.
Moreover, legal immigrants do
not qualify for welfare or health
care for the first five years of
their residency in the United
States, while undocumented
immigrants never qualify for
such benefits. In fact, undocu-
mented immigrants pay bil-
lions in income taxes each year
and at least $7 billion in Social
Security taxes, helping to sus-
tain Social Security for the ba-
by-boomer generation.
By adopting comprehensive
immigration reform and pro-
viding the undocumented legal
status, the United States would
receive even more income taxes
and Social Security payments
from immigrants, since they
would be required to register
with the government and pay
their full share.
Question: Why should not
the priority be on the develop-
ment in the countries the im-
migrants come from so they do
not want to come here in the
first place?
Answer: In fact, the U.S.
bishops have stated that Con-
gress should look at the “push
factors,” such as the lack of
living-wage employment, that
compel immigrants to leave
their home countries and risk
their lives to come to the United
States in search of jobs.
As a global institution, the
Catholic Church believes that
the most humane and effective
long-term solution to irregular
immigration is economic de-
velopment in poorer countries,
so that people can stay in their
home countries and support
their families in dignity. In the
context of the current immigra-
tion debate, this is the Church’s
answer to a border wall, which
will not prevent irregular mi-
gration over the long term. The
Church believes that migration
should ultimately be driven by
choice, not necessity.
Question: What kind of im-
migration reform do the bish-
ops want exactly? Amnesty?
Open borders?
Answer: Neither. The U.S.
bishops’ prescription for mend-
ing our broken system is to
bring the 11 million undocu-
mented out of the shadows,
register them with the govern-
ment, require them to pay a fine
Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City blesses a girl during a special Mass for immigrants at
St. Aloysius Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., on March 21. CNS photo by Nancy Wiechee
and any taxes owed, and require
them to learn English and work
as they wait in the back of the
line for a chance for citizenship.
This is not “amnesty,” which is
generally defined as granting a
benefit without anything in re-
turn.
The U.S. bishops would also
support an increase in family-
based and employment-based
visas so that immigrant fami-
lies could migrate to the United
States in a safe, legal and con-
trolled manner, and not be
subject to the abuse of human
smugglers or to death in the
desert.
It is our view that making
changes to the legal immigra-
tion system will help ease pres-
sure on our border by taking
undocumented immigrants out
of the enforcement equation,
freeing up law enforcement to
focus upon those who are here
to harm us — drug smugglers,
human traffickers, and would-
be terrorists — and not those
simply looking for a job.
We also believe, as men-
tioned earlier, that Congress
should examine how the root
causes of migration can be ad-
dressed, so that migrants can
stay where they are and work in
dignity.
Bishop John C. Wester heads the
Diocese of Salt Lake City and is
chairman of the U.S. Conference
of Catholic Bishops’ Committee
on Migration.
