Religious Campaign on Refugee Issues Gains Strength from Congressional Lobbying Efforts
Episcopal News Service. May 23, 1996 [96-1471]
(ENS) Concerted effort by religious groups concerned with immigration and refugee issues helped curb some of the most harmful excesses of recent Congressional bills on immigration, reported Richard Parkins, director of Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM). But perhaps equally important, their successes gave them renewed faith in their own voices, he said.
Parkins said he was buoyed by "the affirmation which our church networks have received in knowing that their voice counts. This means that an ability exists to speak ever more powerfully for refugees and immigrants."
As part of the Campaign for Refugee Protection, EMM helped push for changes in bills before both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and "our advocacy has been enormously successful," Parkins said. "It is generally acknowledged that the voice of the churches has been heard on many of the key issues."
The campaign counted as victories the elimination of a cap that would have drastically reduced the number of refugees allowed into the United States, the preservation of categories giving preference to family members of immigrants already in the United States, and the preservation of asylum rights for refugees who lack appropriate documentation. Yet lobbying efforts were not able to stop the sharp reduction in benefits available to legal immigrants.
"Regrettably, we still have a terribly flawed piece of legislation considering the denial of benefits that taxpaying immigrants will face," Parkins said. "Our satisfaction about the campaign is offset by the realization that in the current climate a more restrictive piece of legislation was about to emerge."
The campaign members, along with other groups, will be continuing their work as the House and Senate bills are merged since some provisions dropped from one bill remain in the other. Chief goals, Parkins said, are making certain that the provisions of the amendment protecting asylum rights are retained, and defeating an amendment that would allow states to bar the children of illegal immigrants from attending school.
The amendment on children "is an item that will be 'conferenced' because it does not appear in the Senate bill," Parkins said. "We do now want the Senate to cede to the House language. We shall make a major effort on this issue as we feel strongly about any possibility of children being denied schooling."