Catholic leaders see U.S. Senate immigration bill as too punitive, not far-reaching enough

June 1, 2006

From the Catholic News Service 5/30/2006:

Supporters of a comprehensive immigration reform plan said the bill passed May 25 by the Senate is more punitive and less far-reaching than they had hoped it would be, but they said it also includes many provisions they sought. . . . Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony in a May 25 statement praised the bill’s provisions to allow many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country a path to citizenship and to provide a temporary worker program and improve family reunification policies. “But the bill also contains provisions that are unnecessarily punitive in nature, and will not help to fix our nation’s broken immigration system,” he said. “Objectionable provisions include mandatory detention along the border, and an expansion of the expedited removal of asylum seekers. “The construction of a 370-mile-long wall and the deployment of National Guard forces along our border with Mexico incorrectly applies a military solution to a problem that is socioeconomic in nature,” he said. Bishop Gerald R. Barnes of San Bernardino, Calif., chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration, said in a statement that, while the U.S. bishops’ conference “does not agree with each and every provision in the Senate-passed bill, we applaud its comprehensive approach and believe it contains many of the elements necessary to help solve the problems associated with our country’s current immigration system.” In his statement Cardinal Mahony said the church would redouble its efforts to press Congress for legislation “that is just, fair and humane” and to convince all members of Congress that they should oppose “unnecessarily harsh and punitive provisions that will do little to nothing to help our nation achieve meaningful immigration reform.” He also said he would oppose “a final bill that comes out of the House-Senate conference committee if it removes or significantly weakens the legalization provisions of the Senate bill, including the path to citizenship.”