Group continues efforts
A local interfaith activist group continues to push for comprehensive immigration reform, even as its prospects for near-term passage dim on the national level.
The San Francisco Interfaith Coalition on Immigration, comprised of local Catholic, Anglican, Protestant and Jewish clergy and lay leaders, provides services for immigrants and lobbies on their behalf in the local, state and national arenas.
The group began with laity and clergy who wanted an opportunity to directly serve the immigrant community in San Francisco and to join with likeminded people of faith, SFICI member Craig Wong told Catholic San Francisco.
“They wanted to build relationships with one another,” said Wong, executive director of Grace Urban Ministries, an outreach program at Grace Fellowship Community Church where SFICI meets monthly. “Now we meet with local and national legislative leaders, participate in interfaith prayer vigils, and pray for the immigrant community and the leaders who make decisions that affect them.”
In addition to its advocacy work, the group provides support to families of immigrants caught up in Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, and helps with basic food, clothing and childcare needs of immigrants. The group also facilitates legal assistance and pastoral care.
The work to pass immigration reform takes place while tougher enforcement standards have led to increased deportations. A program called Secure Communities, started during the recent Bush administration and greatly expanded under the Obama administration, allows local officials to check the immigration status of those held in jail to identify and deport illegal immigrants.
The program has come under attack from both sides of the immigration debate. Hard-liners charge the program amounts to de facto amnesty for illegal immigrants who have not been arrested for unrelated crimes. Immigration reform advocates say the program disproportionately deports undocumented immigrants arrested for minor crimes, and even leads to the deportation of those whose criminal charges are later dropped.
Paulist Father Charles Kullmann, SFICI member and pastor of Old St. Mary’s Church in San Francisco, said the faith backgrounds on which SFICI is based more than balance the worries that prompt a backlash against immigration.
“A lot of what motivates people’s issues in this area is fear,” Father Kullmann said. “The best way of dealing with that is faith – a sense of hospitality and concern for the stranger and the outcast.”
Jane Kelly, a parishioner at St. Dominic in San Francisco and an SFICI member, said her faith drew her to participate in the coalition’s efforts.
“Jesus said to welcome the stranger,” Kelly said. “That was the genesis of it for me.” Kelly said since her focus was drawn to the issue, she has seen many turn around on the concept of immigration reform.
“A lot of folks are waking up in America, and thinking ‘I was lucky to be born here, not that I have any particular merit,’” Kelly said. “If other people have the grit and determination to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, that’s good for them.”
Kelly said the willingness of Catholic leaders to speak out on the immigration has been helpful to the movement for reform.
“People count on Catholics in this battle,” Kelly said. “We bring the perspective of looking at the outsider as one of us.”
Speaking at a joint press conference following a summit in Guadalajara, Mexico with the leaders of Mexico and Canada Aug. 10, President Obama said while immigration reform is important to his administration, he did not expect a bill this year. With a major fight on healthcare reform and a looming battle over his proposed financial sector overhaul, Obama said immigration would take a back seat to other priorities.
“I’ve got a lot on my plate and it’s very important for us to sequence these big initiatives so they don’t crash at the same time,” said Obama, who promised action on immigration reform as a candidate when courting the crucial Latino vote during the campaign.
The president said he expected legislation to be drafted by the end of the year, but final passage would not likely come until 2010.
At an April 2009 Senate hearing, Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, outlined key points on the reform agenda:
• A broad-based legalization program that provides an opportunity for permanent residency for undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
• A worker program which provides the same labor protections afforded to citizens, allows for family unity, and a labor market test to ensure U.S. workers are not harmed.
• Provisions which reduce the backlog of cases regarding immediate family members of legal permanent residents.
• The restoration of due process protections in immigration cases.
• Addressing the root causes of immigration, including lack of development in countries of origin.
• The inclusion of provisions aimed at providing a path to citizenship for minor undocumented children and addressing the legal status of farm workers.
SFICI is joined in its appeal for an immigration overhaul by California’s Catholic bishops, among them Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, who issued a statement in June calling on congress and the Obama administration to commit to reforming the system.
“Repair of our flawed immigration system is long overdue,” Cardinal Mahony said. “Human beings attempting to work and support their families continue to be subject to exploitation by smugglers and unscrupulous employers, and people continue to tragically perish in the desert. This suffering must come to an end.”
The Pew Hispanic Center estimates nearly 12 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States.
By Mike Vick
From August 21, 2009 issue of Catholic San Francisco.
