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James Martin, S.J.November 03, 2010

From the USCCB website:

Bishop Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona, Vice-president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, testified before Congress on the ethical imperative for reform of the U.S. immigration system. He spoke before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law. Bishop Kicanas, whose diocese runs along the whole of the Arizona-Mexico border, said he witnesses every day the human consequences of our broken immigration system, adding that this is a situation which from a humanitarian and ethical stand point, needs to be addressed in a humane and comprehensive manner. 

The link of Bishop Kicanas's five-minute presentation on behalf of the USCCB, which is calm, eloquent and well reasoned is here.

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Thomas Farrelly
14 years 8 months ago
I could not hear the Bishop's comments, so cannot comment on them.
I do wish that advocates of "comprehensive reform" would spell out precisely what they mean.  I fear that in many cases they argue, either explicitly or implicitly, that anyone who wishes to cross our borders should be allowed to do so, and then be treated to all the benefits of legal residency, and ultimately citizenship.

I can not agree, no matter how many bishops favor it.  I would like some day to see poverty done away with in the US, and do not think this is possible as long as we keep importing it.   I do not believe that the US has the responsibility of accepting the
people who wish to escape the ill-governed and failed societies to our south, nor the millions of Asians who would like to come here.

To me, the most "broken" aspect of immigration policy is the failure to enforce our laws, through a combination of border security and effective enforcement of the prohibition on employing people who are not legally in the US.  The second most broken aspect is the reluctance to allow the immigration of those highly skilled and educated workers who would actually strengthen our nation.

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