welcomingrhodeisland:

BY PATRICIA ZAPOR, Catholic News Service

2/7/13

WASHINGTON — They’ve been down this road before — trying to pass a far-reaching reform of the U.S. immigration system.

Today, an estimated 11 million people lack legal immigration status and they live throughout the country. The list of states with the fastest-growing populations of immigrants includes Tennessee, North Carolina, Arkansas, Delaware and Wyoming.

The past history of the kind of coalition-building it took to pass previous immigration legislation may bear lessons for today as Congress launches what may be the best chance for comprehensive reforms since the era of the Iran-Contra Affair and the initial public stock offering for Microsoft.

A bipartisan panel of senators Jan. 28 presented the key elements they support, including creating a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, strengthening border security, streamlining legal immigration options and improving systems for verifying eligibility for work.

A day later, President Barack Obama outlined a similar but more comprehensive list of his goals for immigration legislation. The White House later said he hopes to sign a bill by the middle of 2013. The House kicks off hearings on immigration reform Feb. 5.

Obama’s and the Senate panel’s proposals have been cautiously praised by a phalanx of organizations, representing faith groups, civil rights organizations and employers. Among those, Jesuit Father Thomas H. Smolich, president of the Jesuit Conference of the United States, said the order is encouraged by the bipartisan tone of the senators’ proposal, though some aspects raise concerns.

Bishop Thomas J. Tobin said the announcement of a bipartisan immigration reform “blueprint” developed by eight United States senators is a welcome step in the right direction.

“As I have shared in the past, almost no one is happy with the status quo, but the only way to address that unhappiness is by changing the immigration laws and fixing the system. I am hopeful that the United States Congress and the president can enact a fair reform of our nation’s immigration policies,” the bishop said in a statement.

In 2008, the issue of immigration came to a boil in Rhode Island after federal agents raided several courthouses and at least one business, arresting mainly Hispanic immigrants on charges they were living here illegally.

In his regular Without a Doubt column, the bishop has acknowledged that while the church does not condone undocumented migration, “It’s good to recall that immigrants, regardless of the paper they carry or don’t, are children of God and brothers and sisters to us.”

He went on to say that “Most people would agree, I think, that clear and consistent immigration policies, along with careful control of our national borders, are very reasonable goals.”

Father Jaime Garcia, pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Church, Providence, said many undocumented immigrants attend Mass at the predominantly Hispanic parish.

“They’ve been waiting for a resolution for a very long time,” said Father Garcia, himself an immigrant to the United States from Guatemala. “They’re hoping that this will be the year.”

He said that most undocumented immigrants, especially those with family members who may have been born here, live in fear that one day they will be discovered and deported.

“The separation of families is a major concern,” he said

Since more than 70 percent of Hispanic voters supported Obama in the 2012 election over rival Mitt Romney, Republican leaders who saw that margin as crucial to the defeat of their candidate have moved swiftly to restart efforts at fixing an immigration system that is widely described as broken.

For more than 20 years, periodic efforts pushed at times by Democrats as well as Republicans, by Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have gotten as far as votes in one body of Congress before falling apart.

Editor Rick Snizek contributed to this report.

(via immigrantstories)

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