Washington priest voices support for immigrant family reunification
Episcopal News Service. May 23, 2007 [052307-03]
Molly Keane, Immigration Policy assistant in the Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations
Expressing support for immigrant family reunification at a May 23 Capitol Hill news conference, the Rev. Dr. Luis Leon, rector of St. John’s Lafayette Square Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., spoke in favor of a proposed amendment authored by Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) to the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2007.
The Senators’ amendment would remove barriers to reunification for the nuclear families of lawful permanent residents.
"The Episcopal Church’s 2006 legislative body, General Convention, expressed strong support for comprehensive immigration legislation and regarded family unity as an imperative of any reformed system," stated Leon. "Sadly, the Senate compromise legislation includes provisions that devalue family sponsored immigration." The Clinton-Hagel-Menendez amendment would reclassify the spouses and minor children of lawful permanent immigrants as "immediate relatives," thereby exempting them from the visa caps.
Due to visa backlogs, the current wait time is between five to 10 years for more than one million spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents. The Clinton-Menendez-Hagel amendment would help clear this backlog and allow for more expeditious reunification with members of their nuclear family.
"This amendment is about fundamental fairness. The families of legal permanent residents of this country who are playing by the rules should not be penalized because our current immigration system is paralyzed with backlogs," said Senator Hagel in a prepared statement. An Episcopalian, Hagel worships at St. John’s Lafayette Square when in Washington.
In her remarks at the news conference, Clinton said: "The United States is a country built by immigrants, but our laws are tearing legal immigrant families apart. Hundreds of thousands of lawful permanent residents have been waiting for years to be reunited with their spouses and children due to visa backlogs. These are taxpaying, law-abiding residents. These are people who otherwise would be admitted into this country, but they are forced to wait because of a tragic numbers game. It is unconscionable that they are being forced to choose between their family and their newly adopted country."
Others participating in the press conference were: Ralston Deffenbaugh, president, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service; Karen Narasaki, president of Asian American Justice Center; Cecilia Munoz, vice president, National Council of La Raza; Frank Sherry, executive director, National Immigration Forum; Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, a national Catholic social justice lobby; Kevin Appleby, director for Migration and Refugee Policy, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Eric Gutierrez, legislative staff attorney, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund; and Lisalyn Jacobs, policy director, Legal Momentum.
The full text of Leon’s statement follows:
Thank you Senator Clinton and Senator Menendez for welcoming me to today’s press conference addressing comprehensive immigration reform legislation. The Episcopal Church has long worked to be an advocate on behalf of immigrants. Our mission is to both serve the least of these among us and to welcome the stranger by carrying forth the voice of immigrants through better public policy.
The Episcopal Church’s 2006 legislative body, General Convention, expressed strong support for comprehensive immigration legislation and regarded family unity as an imperative of any reformed system.
It is this imperative that brings me here today. Sadly, the Senate compromise legislation includes provisions that devalue family sponsored immigration. Family reunification offers the stability and support needed for immigrants to thrive in our communities and as workers to meet the economic needs of our country. By passing the Clinton-Hagel amendment that would exempt spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents from the visa cap, the Senate would allow for more expeditious unification of immediate family members. This is a critical part of the comprehensive legislation we have sought and we urge its adoption.
As a church we believe that we are called to embrace the stranger, to render hospitality to those who are most vulnerable, and to find Christ in all who come to us in need. We are commanded to love our neighbors as God loves us. We have promised at baptism to seek and serve Christ in all persons.
Those beliefs underlie our position that comprehensive immigration reform should extend full recognition to the rights of immigrant workers, including the possibility of permanent status and eventual U.S. citizenship. We also support a restructured system permitting immigrant workers to enter the United States through an orderly, legal process tied to real employment possibilities for new workers and protecting the rights of workers to avoid exploitation by unscrupulous employers.
Immigrants are among the most vulnerable in our nation, we come to the United States in need; but, we also brings gifts to this great and good country – the gifts of perseverance, resiliency, hard work, generosity, entrepreneurship, and a strong sense of family and the family’s importance in our lives. Ironically, immigrants reflect the best of what the citizens of this country want to see in themselves. We believe the good of all the nation can and should be served in immigration reform.
We also recognize the need to address legitimate security concerns but that need not mean abandoning our national tradition of hospitality to the persecuted and marginalized.
The Episcopal Church commends Senator Clinton, Senator Menendez and Senator Hagel for recognizing the value of family unity and asks that their fellow colleagues in the Senate respect the value of family unity as well.