Justice For Immigrants

Some say that letting in too many immigrants, because they are often a cheap source of labor, could hurt the wages of workers already in the country. Is this known to be true?
Immigrant workers generally do not compete with U.S. workers for unskilled jobs. Some studies show that immigrant workers may have an impact on the job status and wages of low-skilled American workers, such as high school dropouts. Overall, however, immigrant workers fill crucial jobs in important industries that many American will not do, such as agriculture. By enacting immigration reform, the wages of immigrant workers will increase because they will be better able to assert their rights in the workplace and because the pool of unauthorized workers will dwindle.

Won’t a more generous immigration policy risk allowing terrorists and other undesirables into the United States?

Quite the contrary. A more generous immigration policy will ensure that government authorities can iden¬tify and monitor who is coming into the country. If a migrant comes in legally, they will identify themselves to the government and be subject to background checks and criminals and would-be terrorist can be weeded out. Now, persons who come in without papers are not known to the government and their whereabouts are not known.

What level of border enforcement do the bishops see as necessary and appropriate?

The U.S. bishops believe that comprehensive immigration reform will reduce the pressure on the southern border by letting migrants who otherwise would cross the border illegally to enter legally through ports of entry. This would allow border patrol officials, who have a difficult task, to better protect us from smug¬glers and traffickers and other criminal elements. The erection of fences along our southern border will not necessarily stop illegal immigration but could lead to migrants depending more on unscrupulous smugglers and taking more dangerous routes through the desert.

What can the average Catholic in the pew do to support the kind of immigration reform that the Catholic Church endorses?
They can visit the Justice for Immigrants website at justiceforimmigrants.org. to obtain information on the position of the U.S. bishops and how they may contact their federal officials to support comprehensive im¬migration reform. Support from Catholic parishioners will help enact a just and humane bill