The bishops of the United States have long been advocates of reforms to our broken immigration system. Thoughtful observers of the challenges faced by our country cannot help but recognize that serious reforms are necessary to preserve safety and the integrity of our borders, as well as to accommodate needs for labor, family stability, and the ability of those at risk of grave harm to migrate. We continue to propose reforms that will enhance our immigration system, respect human dignity, and promote the common good.
The administration has effectively achieved control of the border and is aggressively moving to remove and deport “bad actors,” those who have entered the country and committed serious felonies. But, as employers in the agricultural and service sectors of our economy could tell you, most of the immigrants are hardworking and honest and only want to build a future of hope for themselves and their families.
The majority, while not having permanent legal status, do have some type of status such as Temporary Protected Status (TPS), parole or an asylum application. Some Haitians, Cubans, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans came with special humanitarian visas valid for two years, but conditions in their countries of origin have yet to improve. Others came legally as students or visitors and fell out of status. The DREAMERS were brought here by their parents and, while the government has afforded them “deferred departure,” they have no path to legal permanent residence.
The United States is facing labor shortages in many industries, including health care, service and agriculture. Removing immigrant workers will only exacerbate these shortages. Rather than spend billions to deport these people who are already contributing positively to our nation’s well-being, it would be more reasonable financially and more morally acceptable for Congress, working with the administration, to expand legal pathways for noncriminal migrants to adjust to a permanent legal status. The administration is charged with enforcing the laws, but Congress makes the laws and can change them.
As the new detention center becomes operational at Dade-Collier Airport, or “Alligator Alcatraz,” it seems necessary to take stock of these recent developments in immigration enforcement and reiterate the need for more than enforcement-only measures.
It is alarming to see enforcement strategies that treat all irregular immigrants as dangerous criminals. Masked, heavily armed agents who fail to identify themselves in enforcement activities are surprising. So is an apparent lack of due process in deportation proceedings in recent months.
Along this line, much current rhetoric is obviously intentionally provocative. It is unbecoming of public officials and corrosive of the common good to speak of the deterrence value of “alligators and pythons” at the Dade-Collier facility. Common decency requires that we remember the individuals being detained are fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters of distressed relatives. We wish to ensure that chaplains and pastoral ministers will be able to serve those in custody, to their benefit and that of the staff. We also raise concerns about the isolation of the detention facility, which is far from centers of medical care, and the precariousness of the temporary “tent” structures in the Florida heat and summer thunderstorms, not to mention the possibility of safely protecting detainees in the event of a hurricane.
We call on all people of goodwill to pray for our government officials, for those in immigration custody and their families, for those who work in enforcement, and for justice for all in this nation to whose prosperity immigrants have always contributed.
