Citizenship for Migrants and Refugees (AND NOT DEPORTATION!)
By Lori and Robert Fontana
Let’s start a national campaign to promote a path towards citizenship for migrants and refugees. Mass deportations are not the answer. Migrants and refugees, by and large, are hard-working, family oriented, and law-abiding members of our communities. Some are professional people, others carpenters, electricians, and owners of small stores. But many are the laborers doing the physical work of caring for our elderly, cleaning our homes and businesses, driving taxis, working at airports and slaughterhouses, and picking our crops.
Write the Republican lawmakers from your state and insist that they find the moral courage to give these good people a path to citizenship as did Ronald Reagan, one of our most conservative presidents, did when he signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986!
What you can do to promote a pathway to citizenship for migrants and refugees:
1. Get informed. Fact check any information you learn about undocumented migrants and refugees. One argument for deporting migrants is that they are “all rapists, murderers, and criminals!” The majority of undocumented migrants and refugees are good people seeking to build a new life in the U.S.. But do they commit more crime than native born citizens? The data says “no.” Although there are not good national statistics on this issue, looking at state arrest records shows that undocumented persons are as much as 40% less likely to commit crime than native-born citizens (see: https://www.factcheck.org/2018/06/is-illegal-immigration-linked-to-more-or-less-crime/)
2. Learn about the real contributions of undocumented persons and refugees to U.S. society: “…There are currently an estimated 11 million individuals living in the United States without legal status, the vast majority of whom are working, paying taxes, and contributing in both economic and non-economic ways to their community, often starting their own businesses, and playing integral roles in agriculture, construction, hospitality, and other industries that are essential to the U.S. economy.” (see: https://www.newamericaneconomy.org/issues/undocumented-immigrants/)
3. Learn what the Bible actually says about how one should treat foreigners: “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.” Leviticus 19:34. “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” – Proverbs 14:31 “Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was….a stranger and you welcomed me.’” Matthew 25:35
4. Get organized. Meet with your friends and neighbors, especially those who are politically conservative. Have a conversation about the above. Remind folks that both the Biblical view of migration and Catholic social teaching state that people have a right to leave their homeland in search of a better life. And yes, Catholic social teaching also holds that governments have a responsibility to manage their country’s borders. The southern border is closed. Now is the time to advocate, in the spirit of Ronald Reagan (and guided by the Holy Spirit), for a path towards citizenship for migrants and refugees.
a. Meet with the congressional and senatorial representatives from your state, both parties. They have offices in the districts they represent. Talk with them and/or their staffs. Listen to their ideas; advocate for an end to mass deportations and urge them to create a path towards citizenship!
b. Organize a peaceful rally in front of their offices.
c. Write your newspaper; keep it up week after week.
5. Pray for the success of this campaign.
