Fr. Ronan Newbold, CP:

This year Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD) were, again, an occasion for serious thinking and conversion. What are we doing to the people who live in the USA? The first evening Bishop Minerva Carcano, of the United Methodist Church, spoke to us about how families are being separated with devastating results for children and our society. Sister Mary McCauley, BVM, spoke of the May 12th 2008, raid on 400 undocumented workers at an Agro-processor factory in Postville, Iowa. They were shackled, put on school buses and taken to detainment facilities by local police, state police and members of the National Guard. What are we doing to the people who live in the USA.

There are arguments against letting these undocumented people become documented; such as using our education system and health care system without paying a cent into them. They are accused of criminal activity along the Southern border. During this EAD, there could have been a better explanation of how these people really do pay into the education and health systems of our country by paying sales taxes every time they purchase something. But there was more than adequate explanation of how they are keeping our economy going. Moreover, without them, our economy would really begin to stagger. If all were documented, and signed into our income tax system, then education, health and retirement would not only be helped but would be able to expand to take care of the growing number of our elderly. The one figure I remember was this: if all of the undocumented were documented, $1.3 trillion would be added to our gross national product over the next ten years. Moreover, all of these people in the shadows would now come to light and policing of them would cease to be an expense.

Here is another thought. Some worry that if we do set up a system of documenting these people, a “billion” people from all over the world would want to come to the United States. Wrong. The United States is probably number 4 or 5 among nations that people would like to move to. Australia, New Zea land, Canada, and Switzerland are more likely to draw people from foreign lands due to their policies of peace and awareness of health in their governments.

The speech of Sister Helen Prejean (author of Dead Man Walking) was truly an occasion for conversion. Can we hear the cry of the poor? That is the question. Does their cry rank highest is our hearts? The people of Jesus’ time brought him to death. There is nothing that we can do about that. There is something we can do about the people who are dying trying to cross into our land, who are incarcerated, who are kept on the fringes of our society and who are the presence of God among us. Sister’s question remains: “Can we hear the cry of the poor?”

Br. Ed Hall, CP

Awareness of our millions of immigrants who are living in the shadows of our communities and our neighbors was brought home to my attention at the Ecumenical Advocacy meeting in Washington DC the weekend of the 20^th of March. The realization that many who come to worship in our churches are living without protections and guarantees, because they do not yet possess legal status. I was encouraged that weekend with the passage of the health care reform bill for these living millions living in the shadows without health care coverage.

I was among 200,000 people along with Ronan Newbold, Chris Gibson and John Gonzalez on the mall in Washington DC for a Rally in favor of immigration reform legislation. People where there to spur Congress and the White House to overhaul the nation’s immigration system and offer its 10.8 million illegal immigrants a path to citizenship this year against increasingly long odds.

We were warmed by bursts of sunshine; the crowd was peaceful and festive. The sounds of drums and American flags and posters filled the air. One could read placards that said, “Change takes Courage” and “Obama Don’t Forget Your Promise!” Rep. Luis Gutierrez(D-Ill) said “It’s time to let immigrants come of the shadows into the light and for America to embrace them and protect them.”

I felt hopeful and encouraged by this weekend. The fraternity and support of Chris, Ronan and John to continue to be committed and involved in this important issue of overhauling of immigration laws for the many who are in our neighborhoods and churches is hopeful to me.

Office of Refugee Resettlement – The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Department of Health and Human Services administers assistance for refugees, Cuban entrants, asylees, unaccompanied alien children, and victims of torture and trafficking who have been admitted to the United States. We recommend a total of $987.9 million for ORR in fiscal year (FY) 2011 for an admission of 80,000 refugees.

This proposed increase would accommodate the following:

• Housing Assistance: an additional $30 million to help refugees avoid homelessness
• Voluntary Matching Grant Program: additional funding to increase the number of refugees and other migrants eligible to participate in this welfare-alternative employment program from 27,000 to 57,000
• Intensive Case Management: $11 million to assist vulnerable refugees
• Assistance for Torture and Trafficking Victims: to assist victims of torture and human trafficking
• Unaccompanied Alien Children: to assist unaccompanied alien children in the United States

Migration and Refugee Assistance – The Migration and Refugee Account (MRA) account includes funds for overseas assistance to refugees and for refugee resettlement. We recommend a total of $2.31 billion for MRA in FY 2011, including $1.8 billion for overseas assistance and $415.2 million for refugee admissions.

• Overseas Assistance: helps vulnerable refugees—the majority of whom are women and children—in dire need of protection, shelter, clean water, heath care and education. This is the minimum needed to support existing assistance programs for the displaced in Chad/Darfur, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Somalia, Ethiopia, Thailand, Kenya, Nepal, Iraq, the Andean region, and other areas.
• Refugee Admissions: provides safe haven to refugees who do not have an option of returning home and are not welcome in their country of asylum. The State Department’s reception and placement grant provides short-term assistance to refugees who have recently arrived in the United States, including money for rent, food, and other necessities.

International Disaster Assistance – We recommend $1.6 billion for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) International Disaster Assistance (IDA) account to provide life-saving assistance in health, nutrition, water, sanitation and shelter to persons affected by conflict and natural disasters. This recommendation includes $600 million for emergency food assistance to assist approximately 100 million people estimated to need it to survive in FY 2011. IDA is the main source of U.S. funding for assistance to internally displaced persons – who currently number some 26 million worldwide – including in Haiti, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Somalia. In the past, USAID has had to rely on mid-year emergency supplemental funds to respond to unanticipated emergencies without interrupting programs in other countries. Relying on emergency funding has serious human costs. We urge significantly increased funding for IDA in fiscal year 2011 to support humanitarian relief and recovery.

Relief for Haiti – We recommend an emergency supplemental of $3 billion for the people of Haiti. The massive 7.0 earthquake of January 12^th left nearly 800,000 persons without shelter and has affected over 3 million Haitians. The cost of rebuilding from the disaster could reach $14 billion, according to the Inter-American Development Bank.  The country has suffered serious devastation for the years, including the damage of four tropical storms and hurricanes in 2008, political instability, a continuing food crisis, and environmental degradation. Haitian-led assistance plans must go beyond emergency recovery funds, and facilitate new infrastructure, decentralization and long-term development.

Grinding poverty and lack of opportunity push many people around the world to choose to leave their homes. While the causes of such poverty are many, high external debt burdens many poor countries face exacerbate poverty. Countries with high external debts are forced to focus their budgets around debt service instead of poverty alleviation and creating and maintaining proper social safety nets Economic conditions placed on loans and debt relief by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have also undermined assistance to the poor.

Nine years ago, the Jubilee 2000 campaign brought the issue of crushing international debt onto the agenda of world leaders and Congress responded by taking action to support debt relief. The Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation, known as the Jubilee Act, provides Congress with a new opportunity to address the unfinished agenda on international debt. We know that debt relief works. Thanks to the debt relief achieved so far, millions of children are now in school and thousands more have access to health care. But more must be done to ensure that the life-saving impacts of debt cancellation in 1999 and 2005 are preserved, and the Millennium Development Goals are met.

The Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation (HR 4405) will:

Establish a Framework for Transparent, Responsible Lending and Borrowing

One of the greatest challenges facing nations that have received debt cancellation under existing initiatives is the range of new lenders which threaten to send nations back into unsustainable debt. To ensure that countries that benefit from debt relief do not fall back into unsustainable debt, the Jubilee Act calls on the Secretary of the Treasury to:

• Provide that the external financing needs of low-income countries are primarily met through grants rather than new lending;
• Support international efforts like the one convened by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) that address a need for increased responsible lending and borrowing, through the creation of a responsible lending and borrowing code of conduct.

 The Jubilee Act also calls for greater transparency in lending. The legislation calls on the Department of Treasury to commence immediate efforts to encourage Paris Club creditors, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to:

• Promote greater transparency regarding their activities and follow a policy of maximum disclosure; and
• Support continued efforts to allow greater participation and input by affected communities and institutions in affected areas.

Prohibit Harmful Economic and Policy Conditions

Another obstacle to the successful implementation of existing debt cancellation commitments is the harmful economic and policy conditions that the World Bank and IMF continue to attach to their lending. As such, the Jubilee Act would prohibit specific harmful economic and policy conditions. The prohibited harmful conditions include user fees for primary health care and education, increased cost for the poorest for clean drinking water, measures that compromise workers’ rights, and constraints on government spending for essential health care and education. While transparency and accountability are key requirements in any debt cancellation process, the Jubilee Act means to ensure that the provision of debt cancellation is not conditioned on any requirement to implement or comply with policies that deepen poverty or degrade the environment.

Expand Debt Cancellation for Qualified Countries

Even after debt relief, the poorest countries in the world continue to send $100 mi11ion each day to the United States, other wealthy nations, and the IMF and World Bank. The Jubilee Act of 2009 helps to address this unacceptable reality by expanding eligibility for debt cancellation from the US, the World Bank, IMF, and regional development banks to up to an additional 22 low-income countries not currently eligible for debt relief - provided that these countries meet strict criteria and prove their ability to utilize released funds well.

Countries that would become eligible for debt relief under the Jubilee Act are the 22 countries that are only eligible for financing from the World Bank’s soft lending arm – the International Development Association (IDA) but not for the current HIPC initiative. These IDA-only countries are the poorest in the world (with per capita incomes under $1065/year) and need debt cancellation if they are to have any hope of meeting the Mi11ennium Development Goals (MDGs). The HIPC initiative and the MDRI currently consider debt relief for 40 countries, so the Jubilee Act would potentially add 22 more countries to this group. In order to actually receive cancellation, the governments of these countries would meet strict criteria to assure transparent and effective budget execution and financial management systems which ensure that the savings from debt relief are spent on reducing poverty. They would also have to engage interested parties, including a broad cross-section of civil society groups, in the spending allocation process and produce an annual report on this spending, making it publicly available and easily accessible. Countries would be excluded from receiving the debt cancellation under the Jubilee Act if they:

• Have excessive level of military expenditures;
• Have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism;
• Fail to cooperate on international narcotics control matters; or
• Engage in a consistent pattern of gross human rights violations.

Conduct Debt Audits

The Jubilee Act also addresses the problem of odious and unjust debts (debts accrued by undemocratic regimes or that did not benefit the population) by requiring the Comptroller General of the US to undertake audits of debt portfolios of previous regimes in countries where there is accepted evidence of odious, onerous or illegal loans, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa. Such audits should consider debts owed to the World Bank, IMF, and other multilaterals, as well as export credit debts owed to governments, and commercial creditors, and assess whether or not past investments produced the intended results. Furthermore, such audits would investigate the process by which the loans were contracted, how the funds were utilized and their product, and determine whether US and/or international laws were violated in the contraction of these loans. This is imperative in order to learn from past errors and ensure more responsible and productive lending and borrowing moving forward. The audits should be planned and executed in a transparent and consultative manner, engaging Congressional bodies and civil society groups in the countries in question.

As our diverse faith traditions teach us to welcome our brothers and sisters with love and compassion regardless of their place of birth-we call on the new Administration and III th Congress to enact humane and equitable immigration reform in 2009.

We call for immigration reform because each day in our congregations, service programs, health-care facilities, and schools we witness the human consequences of a broken and outdated system. We see the exploitation of undocumented workers and the plight of separated families, as well as the escalation of community fear due to indiscriminate raids and local police acting as federal immigration agents. Humane immigration reform would help put an end to this suffering, which offends the dignity of all human beings.

The Hebrew Bible tells us: “The strangers who sojourn with you shall be to you as the natives among you, and you shall love them as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 19:33-34). In the New Testament, Jesus tells us to welcome the stranger, for “what you do to the least of my brethren, you do unto me” (Matthew 25:40). The Qur’an tells us that we should “do good to … those in need, neighbors who are near, neighbors who are strangers, the companion by your side, the wayfarer that you meet” (4:36). The Hindu Taitiriya Upanishad tells us: “The guest is a representative of God” (1.11.2).

Therefore, we call on the new Administration and the 111^th Congress to commit to:

Uphold family unity as a priority of all immigration policies: Recognizing the importance of families to the creation of healthy individuals and strong communities, we call on the new Administration and Congress to 1) expeditiously reunite immigrant families separated due to lengthy visa backlogs; 2) revise family preference categories and per-country caps to prioritize family unity; and 3) remove bars to reentry and adjustment of status for individuals seeking to reunite with their family members. Attempts to devalue the family, such as denying birthright citizenship to the children of immigrants or placing family-based and employment-based visa applicants in competition with each other on a point-based or other system, must be rejected in order to maintain and promote family unity.

Create a process for undocumented immigrants to earn their legal status and eventual citizenship: We urge the Administration and Congress to enact immigration reform that allows undocumented immigrants and their families to earn lawful permanent residency upon the satisfaction of reasonable criteria, with a pathway to citizenship. The workability of such a program should not be hindered by overly punitive criteria, such as mandating that immigrants leave the country or pay exorbitant fees, or by making the process conditional upon the implementation of enforcement measures. Communities and congregations around the country are prepared to provide legal services to those eligible, as people of faith are committed to an effective and humane system that keeps families together and values the dignity of our friends and neighbors.

Protect workers and provide efficient channels of entry for new migrant workers: We call for an expansion of legal avenues for workers who seek to migrate to the United States to work in a safe, legal, and orderly manner. Their rights must be fully protected, including the ability to bring their families with them, travel as needed, change their place of employment, and apply for lawful permanent residency and eventually citizenship. As currently structured, electronic employment verification programs have proven detrimental to both employers and employees due to increased discrimination and unfair hiring and firing practices. All workers benefit, however, from the enforcement of health, safety, wage, and hour laws, as well as the right to peacefully organize.

Facilitate immigrant integration: Many immigrants desire to naturalize but lack the necessary tools. The U.S. immigration system should empower them to this end by providing financial support to state and local governments and community organizations that offer language and civics education, outreach, and naturalization application assistance. Citizenship should be made more affordable by reducing naturalization fees and making fee waivers more easily accessible. Moreover, the processing of application backlogs and security checks should be streamlined to reduce waiting times. Counterproductive laws prohibiting immigrants from accessing social services and mandating that local police act as immigration officials should be revoked. These barriers to integration decrease community safety and discourage immigrants from pursuing education and community involvement. Faith based organizations and congregations around the country will continue to assist in integration efforts by providing social services and helping immigrants learn English, find jobs, and thrive in the United States.

Restore due process protections and reform detention policies: Immigration policies should respect human rights and ensure due process for all persons. We have witnessed how indiscriminate immigration raids have caused trauma and hardship for thousands of individuals. Such raids separate families, destroy communities, and threaten the basic rights of immigrants and U.S. citizens alike. The suffering caused by the increase and severity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in homes and workplaces underscores the problems with current U.S. immigration policies and the urgent need for reform. Many faith organizations administer services to those impacted by raids, as well as to immigrants in detention facilities. Witnessing the toll of incarceration on detainees, their families and our communities, we urge the new Administration and Congress to reduce the use of detention for immigrants and improve detention conditions by enacting clear, enforceable reforms that include rigorous medical treatment standards and increased access to pastoral care, legal counsel and legal orientation programs. Furthermore, the government should expedite the release of individuals who pose no risk to the community and expand the use of community-based alternatives to detention, which are more humane and cost effective.

Align the enforcement of immigration laws with humanitarian values: For the past twenty years, the federal government has dramatically increased fence construction, border patrol presence, and the deportation of immigrants, which have proven ineffective at decreasing undocumented immigration. During this time, we have witnessed the desecration of sacred sites and the violation of environmental and religious freedom laws, as well as the unnecessary suffering of community members whose loved ones have suffered or died seeking entry into the United States. Currently, vast resources are being used for fence construction and the mass arrests, detention, and deportation of immigrants who contribute to the U.S. economy and culture. To truly decrease undocumented immigration, the United States should improve access to the legal immigration system by increasing the number of ports of entry, expanding visa availability, and eliminating application backlogs to increase processing efficiency. Border policies must be consistent with humanitarian values and with the need to treat all individuals with respect, while allowing the United States to implement its immigration laws and identify and prevent the entry of persons who commit dangerous crimes. All immigration laws must respect the dignity of all persons, prioritize the cohesiveness of families and communities, recognize the economic contributions of immigrants, and uphold our moral obligations to provide refuge and welcome the stranger.

Immigration: A matter of human rights: As people of faith, we call attention to the moral dimensions of public policy and recommend reforms that uphold the God-given dignity and rights of every person, each of whom are made in the image of God. We are dedicated to immigration reform because we value family unity, justice, equity, compassion, love, and the humane treatment of all persons. It is our collective prayer that the new Administration and the 111^th Congress enact just immigration reform based on these tenets.

Given the choice, most people would prefer to stay close to their homes and families: yet every day, thousands of people worldwide are faced with the heart-wrenching decision to leave their loved ones and migrate. Lack of economic opportunity to provide for their families, due in part to U.S.-promoted global economic policies, drives much of the migration to the United States and other countries where jobs may be found. Meanwhile, conflict, violence, persecution and environmental degradation have resulted in the forced migration of millions who become refugees or internally displaced persons (IDPs). To ensure “a place to call home” for all our sisters and brothers, we must work to address the root causes of displacement around the globe, as well as treat economic and forced migrants in the U.S. and abroad with humanity and dignity. Because we are commanded in scripture to love our neighbor and welcome the stranger, we call on Congress to act on the following legislative initiatives:

Immigration Reform

As people of faith who witness the human consequences of our broken immigration system, we understand that the United States needs immigration reform now more than ever. We urge Congress to enact humane, equitable immigration reform this year that:

• Allows undocumented immigrants and their families to earn lawful permanent residency upon the satisfaction of reasonable criteria and eventually pursue citizenship
• Expands legal avenues of entry for families who are separated and for those who seek work
• Aligns border policies and internal enforcement policies with humanitarian values and due process protections

Separated families, exploited workers, and broken communities cannot wait any longer for Congress to fix our broken immigration system. We urge all members to make immigration reform a priority.

Root Causes of Migration – Jubilee Act

We urge Congress to enact the Jubilee Act, which would expand debt cancellation and provide a framework for responsible lending to poor countries. In order to fight global poverty and address the push factors behind economic migration, people of faith from around the world achieved Jubilee debt cancellation for many of the world’s poorest countries in 1999 and 2005. The Jubilee Act (HR 4405) will broaden and deepen debt cancellation. This would allow countries to invest more in education, health care, and public infrastructure, thus reducing the number of people forced to seek economic opportunities away from home.

Assist Forcibly Displaced Persons [For Appropriator Visits]

We urge Congress to provide adequate funds for life-saving assistance to refugees and other forcibly displaced persons in fiscal year 2011, such as:

• Helping Refugees in the United States: Provide $987.9 million for the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) in the Department of Health and Human Services. ORR helps refugees, asylees, and victims of torture and human trafficking find employment, learn English, and begin new lives in the U.S.
• Assisting Refugees Overseas: Provide $2.31 billion for Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) through the U.S. State Department. These funds help refugees in camps and urban situations across the world find safety, nourishment, and protection.
• Assisting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs): Provide $1.6 billion for International Disaster Assistance (IDA), administered by USAID. These funds provide urgently-needed assistance and protection to forcibly displaced people in over 62 countries – including Sudan, Haiti, and Sri Lanka.
• Supporting displaced Haitians:  Provide funding for the displaced population of Haiti as part of a $3 billion assistance package for use over the next two years, to meet the immediate and long-term needs in Haiti for relief, reconstruction and development following the devastating earthquake.