Justice for Immigrants

The Bishops Call for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

The Hispanic Pew Forum estimates that at least twelve million undocumented immigrants live and work in the United States today. The motivations pushing immigrants to risk unauthorized entry into America are varied, but most come with the hope of reuniting with family members already here or to find work that will provide support for their family back home. The existing immigration system has resulted in a growing number of persons in this country in an unauthorized capacity, living in the shadows as they toil in jobs that would otherwise go unfilled. The Church believes that current immigration laws and policies have often led to the undermining of immigrants’ human dignity and have kept families apart. The Catholic bishops of the United States have been strong supporters of comprehensive immigration reform, which includes:

• A broad based legalization (permanent residency) of the undocumented of all nationalities;
• Reform of our family-based immigration system to allow family members to reunite with loved ones in the United States;
• Reform of the employment-based immigration system to provide legal pathways for migrants to come and work in a safe, humane, and orderly manner;
• Abandonment of the border "blockade" enforcement strategy;
• Restoration of due process protections for immigrants.

Distortions in the Immigration Debate

Too often, discussions surrounding illegal immigration are reduced to distortions about who they are and what they want. Some say undocumented immigrants don’t pay taxes. In fact, undocumented immigrants pay billions of dollars in sales, income and property taxes each year—directly if they own or indirectly if they rent. According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), undocumented workers pay as much as $7 billion in Social Security and Medicare taxes each year and have contributed as much as a half trillion dollars since 1984.

They don’t want to learn English, others say. ln fact, while first generation, non-English speaking immigrants predictably have lower rates of English proficiency that native speakers, 91% of second generation immigrants are fluent or near fluent English speakers. By the third generation, 97% speak English fluently or near fluently.

Still others conclude that we need to close our borders to prevent another catastrophe like 9/11. In fact, seventeen of the nineteen 9/11 terrorists were in the country legally on student visas - the other two had overstayed their visas. By legalizing the undocumented population and creating more visas for workers to enter legally, we better know who is in the country and who is coming, thus making us safer as a nation.

For more information, please visit: http://www.usccb.org/mrs/mrp.shtml

Justice for Immigrants: A Journey of Hope.
The Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform

In January 2003, the Catholic bishops of the United States and Mexico issued a joint pastoral letter entitled Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope which called for a "globalization of solidarity" and an overhaul of the U.S. immigration system.

The following year, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Migration and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Board of Directors resolved to make comprehensive immigration reform (CIR), with special emphasis on legalization, a major public policy priority within the Church. Many other national Catholic institutions followed suit and have also made immigration reform a policy priority.

In 2005, the Justice for Immigrants (JFI) campaign was launched and given the responsibility to

• Educate Catholics about the challenges that immigrants face in the U.S.;
• Build support and work for the passage of a national comprehensive immigration reform policy that is consistent with the CIR principles articulated by the bishops;
• Strengthen relationships between immigrant communities and dioceses across the the country.

In addition to the Church’s response, a diverse group of Catholic organizations with national networks joined the JFI campaign to unite and mobilize a growing network of Catholic institutions, individuals, and other persons of good faith in support of a broad legalization program and comprehensive immigration reform. These Catholic organizations include the Catholic Campaign for Htunan Development, Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Health Association, Jesuit Conference, NETWORK, National Catholic Association of Diocesan Directors of Hispanic Ministries, CLINIC, Irish Apostolate, and Catholic Charities USA. Collaboration with these and other Catholic organizations will enable JFI to realize its goal to maximize the Church’s influence on the issue of immigration, consistent with the immigration reform principles enunciated in the bishops’ Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope pastoral letter.

Furthermore, the bishops recognize that the conditions compelling people to leave their homes out of desperation and the lack of opportunity to provide for themselves and their families must be addressed. Therefore, JFI works closely with both Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the Catholics Confront Global Poverty campaign, initiated by the USCCB Office of International Justice and Peace. That Campaign and CRS seek to reduce poverty through trade, aid and debt reforms. CRS’ work and the JFI and Global Poverty campaigns are integrally related in that JFI addresses the rights and needs of migrants in the U.S., while CRS and the Global Poverty campaign addresses the rights and needs of persons living in their native countries. By working in concert, JFI, CRS and the Global Poverty campaign are creating the globalization of solidarity" as called for by the U.S. and Mexican Catholic bishops.

For more information on the Campaign, please visit: http://justiceforimmigrants.org

Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.

http://www.cliniclegal.org/

Mission Statement

To enhance and expand delivery of legal services to indigent and low-income immigrants principally through diocesan immigration programs and to meet the immigration needs itentified by the Catholic Church in the United States.

CLINIC History

In 1988, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) established CLINIC as a legally distinct 501(c)(3) organization to support a rapidly growing network of community-based immigration programs. CLINIC’s network originally comprised 17 programs. It has since increased to 176 diocesan and other affiliated immigration programs with 290 field offices in 48 states. The network employs roughly 1,200 attomeys and "accredited" paralegals who, in turn, serve 600,000 low-income immigrants each year. CLINIC and its member agencies represent low-income immigrants without reference to their race, religion, gender, ethnic group, or other distinguishing characteristics.

Facts About CLINIC

Collectively, CLINIC’s vast network of 176 community programs in 48 states provides service to more than 600,000 newcomers each year. Since 1997, CLINIC’s nationally-run programs have helped more than 100,000 people apply for citizenship; have helped approximately 12,000 refugees and asylees apply for green cards; and have provided immigrants with over 15,000 hours of English language instruction.

In 2007, CLINIC provided 7,676 detained immigrants with "know your rights" workshops.

CLINIC founded the only toll-free referral line for asylees seeking accurate information about available services and programs. In 2007, the National Asylee Information and Referral Line took 9,067 phone calls from detainees, their families and their supporters, and provided 3,439 detainees with individual screenings and interviews. Referral information is available in 19 different languages.

In 2007, CLINIC made 211 legal rights presentations to children, consulted with 288 children, and fielded 1,781 phone calls for advice and referrals on detained children’s issues.

In 2007, CLINIC assisted 983 foreign-born priests, sisters, seminarians and religious laypersons coming to minister in the United States each year, an almost 400 percent increase from the year 2000.

CLINIC trained 5,078 immigration services provider staff in 2007. In 2007, CLINIC’s Attorney-of-the-Day Help Line took roughly 5,000 calls from member agencies to help members interpret  immigration law and choose the most effective strategy for representing clients. CLINIC’s attorneys staff the hotline which covers topics such as family-based immigration, naturalization, temporary employment
authorization, and relief from removal.

CLINIC’s pro bono attorneys have represented more than 400 immigrants before the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA).

Select CLINIC Accomplishments

CLINIC trains more than 2,000 local legal service providers per year. It represents hundreds of detainees and other vulnerable immigrants, as well as foreign-born religious workers. Its programs have assisted more than 100,000 people to become U.S. citizens. It has created several special programs for refugees and asylees. It advocacy priorities—established by its local member agencies—include dozens of issues involving work authorization, family reunification, and protection of the vulnerable.