Catholic World News

Prelate: US bishops will oppose immigration reform that does not offer path to citizenship

December 06, 2012

Addressing a conference devoted to immigration policy and advocacy, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta said that the bishops of the United States will oppose immigration-reform proposals that do not offer a path to citizenship.

“Some in the debate have suggested that undocumented persons be given legal status, but not an opportunity to earn citizenship,” he said. “This is a position that the US bishops will resist. We will argue against the creation of a permanent underclass in this country, where certain parts of our population do not have the rights that others do.”

“Our nation has been down this road before, with disastrous results,” he continued. “As we know from our nation’s history, many persons, including Dr. King, have fought and died so that all persons can enjoy the full rights of citizenship. We cannot forsake this principle for the purpose of political expediency.”

“The US bishops will accept and support reasonable enforcement measures, since, as I mentioned earlier, it is part of the right of a sovereign to ensure the integrity of its borders and protect the common good of its citizens,” he added. “However, such measures must respect basic human rights and dignity, as imbued by our Creator, and include basic due process protections for immigrants and their families.”

In his talk – which took place at a conference sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network – Archbishop Gregory linked support for immigration reform to Blessed John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical Pacem in Terris.

“We support adherence to civil law and we continue to recognize the right of sovereign nations to the integrity of their borders in order to foster the common good,” Archbishop Gregory said. “However, this right is not absolute. Nations, especially the rich nations of the world, have an obligation to the universal common good, as articulated by Pope John XXIII in Pacem in Terris, and thus should seek to accommodate migration to the greatest extent possible when migration is necessary for the good of other human beings. The fact that so many migrants are dying in their efforts to meet basic human needs by crossing deserts and risking their lives suggests that there are human needs driving migration to the United States and we are obligated to address those needs through public policies here and in other countries.”

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