The Jesuit-Catholic Immigration Reform of 2013

May 13, 2013

President Barack Obama
TheWhite House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC20500

Dear President Obama:

We commend you for your leadership in once again calling on Congressto take up the task of comprehensive immigration reform.  We join you in this desire and reiterate the call of the Catholic Bishops in the United States for comprehensive immigration reform based on the following principles:

•A path to citizenship that ensures that all undocumented immigrants have accessto full rights.
 •A legal employment structure that protects both migrants and United States workers.
• Expedited family reunification and an end to policies and practices that exacerbate family separation.
• The need for due process protections, and accountable and humane enforcement of our immigration laws.
• Economic assistance to and fair competition with developing countries. 

These principles, which we outlined in detail for you in our 2011 letter, provide the framework for a comprehensive immigration reform package that is fair, just and humane. It is our sincere belief that these principles provide a blueprint for updating our nation’s immigration system in a way that promotes the common good, protects national security, respects human rights, promotes business and economic growth, and acknowledges our national heritage as a nation of immigrants.

Read more: http://www.jesuit.org/jesuits/wp-content/uploads/CIR2013_President1.pdf

+

U.S. Jesuit Provincials Letter to Congress on Comprehensive Immigration Reform– 2013 will hopefully be the year for compassionate and just immigration reform. The letter the Provinicals wrote in 2010 is as relevant to the debate today as it was over two years ago. The 11 million undocumented Americans deserve a path to legalization that guarantees their full rights and border policies that respect family unity. Read more of the Provincials’ Letter here.

Read it here: http://www.jesuit.org/jesuits/wp-content/uploads/Immigration-letter-from-Provincials-to-Congress-June-2010-pdf-on-letterhead.pdf
.
.