Immigration Advocacy for Advent: Information and Action

As Advent approaches, Christians across the country prepare to celebrate the birth of a baby whose family became migrants soon after his birth, traveling to Egypt to escape Herod's persecution.

Meanwhile, millions of immigrants in the United States live in fear of discrimination and deportation; countless more are routinely denied worker protections or social services (even though they pay taxes); anti-immigrant vigilante groups called "Minutemen" are gaining participants across the country, and 358 migrants died on the U.S./Mexico border in FY 2005.

In the past months, Congress has introduced dozens of punitive, anti-migrant bills. Still, there is hope: if legislators hear enough voices this Advent in support of reasoned debate and realistic immigration reform, the debate could move toward compassion and common sense.

Visits, phone calls, letters and faxes are needed now - as your legislators will be at home for Thanksgiving recess until December 5 - and throughout the immigration reform debate. The Senate will likely take up immigration reform in early 2006, but the House plans to vote on a harsh enforcement bill the week of December 12.

BACKGROUND:

Tune into a talk show or read your local newspaper, and there's a good chance you'll hear about immigrants. Most likely, it will be an accusation: "they take our jobs," "they increase crime," "they crowd our schools and hospitals." In the past few years, the immigration debate has become loud and angry, with little attention to realities on the U.S./Mexico border, the role of immigrant workers in the U.S. economy, the root causes of migration or even our nation's immigrant history.

In Congress, recent immigration reform debate has produced only one reasoned proposal for immigration reform. For the most part, legislators seem determined to outdo each other's extreme, reactive anti-migrant bills, calling for a 2,000-mile border wall, military troops on the border or local police enforcement of immigration laws.

For months, the faith community has been rallying around the bipartisan Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act (SAOIA) (S. 1033, H.R. 2330), introduced by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Ted Kennedy (D-MA), and by Reps. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), and Luis Gutierrez (D-IL). Despite its imperfections, the bill would at least study U.S. border policy, reunify families, legalize undocumented immigrants and allow future workers to come and go safely across the border.

However, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, recently released a draft proposal for immigration reform, called the "Chairman's Mark." This draft, rather than the SAOIA, is likely to become the starting point for Senate debate. With no path to citizenship for the undocumented, the Chairman's Mark requires them to "report to deport," an unrealistic provision that will leave 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the shadows of our society.

In the House, Rep. Peter King (R-NY), chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, introduced the Border Security and Terrorism Prevention Act (H.R. 4312). Without addressing immigrant families or workers, the bill takes an enforcement-only approach. It calls for the detention and deportation of all undocumented immigrants, adds 8,000 new Border Patrol agents and gives control of national parks and local police forces along the border to the Department of Homeland Security.

ACTION:

Senate: Encourage the Judiciary Committee to revise the Chairman's Mark to include a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Contact Sen. Arlen Specter or your own member if he/she is on the Judiciary Committee. (Find out by visiting http://judiciary.senate.gov/members.cfm) Contact the committee by phone (202) 224-5225 or by fax (202) 224-9102.

House: Contact your representative and urge him or her to vote against the Border Security and Terrorism Prevention Act when it comes to the floor the week of December 12.

Congress: Tell your senators and representative the immigration reform provisions that are important to you, as a person of faith. See below for talking points.

Ideas for Changing the Debate:

	Write a personal letter to your member of Congress or gather in small groups to write letters with members of your church or community.
	Go with other immigrant advocates to visit your legislator in his or her home office over Thanksgiving break, until December 5.
	Plan an event from the Las Posadas list of suggestions, and invite your legislators or their staff.

	Truly comprehensive immigration reform will reunite separated families, demilitarize the U.S./Mexico border, allow workers to come and go safely across the border and create a path to citizenship for those undocumented immigrants who wish to stay.
	Increased border security without comprehensive immigration reform will not work. Until we reform our immigration laws to allow workers to enter the country legally - and most importantly, until we address the economic policies that impoverish migrants' home countries - people will continue to cross our borders. The U.S. economy depends on foreign workers; pretending otherwise is dishonest.
	Increased border security without comprehensive immigration reform will increase migrant deaths in the desert. In the past ten years we have seen that tightening security only pushes migrants further into the desert.
	Reinforcing our current border security strategy is throwing money at a failed plan. Despite billions of dollars being spent over the past ten years to secure our borders, the Border Patrol itself acknowledges that more undocumented migrants are entering the country today than they were ten years ago.

	Comprehensive Enforcement and Immigration Reform Act, Sens. Kyl (R-AZ) and Cornyn (R-TX): Does not provide a path for permanent residency, does not guarantee legalization for undocumented workers and focuses mainly on border militarization, allocating over $4 billion for fences, cameras and 1,000 new Border Patrol agents.
	Sen. Chuck Hagel's (R-NE) Package: Four bills that work together to address national security, employment and undocumented workers. Provides opportunities for future immigrants to apply for permanent residency, but limits such opportunities for current workers. Dramatically increases resources for border technology and agents.
	Illegal Immigration Enforcement and Empowerment Act, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX): Requires local police to enforce federal immigration laws and establishes formal ties between the Border Patrol and citizen militias like the Minutemen, called "Volunteer Border Marshals" in the bill.
	Rep. J.D. Hayworth's (R-AZ) Bill: An unnamed bill that deports undocumented workers, requires police officers to enforce immigration laws, allows the U.S. military to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border and appropriates $4 billion for border infrastructure.
	TRUE Enforcement and Border Security Act, Reps. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Virgil Goode (R-VA): Introduced by two of the most extreme anti-migrant members of Congress, this bill, among other things, proposes to construct fencing along all 2,000 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.
	REAL Guest Act, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO): Introduced by the ringleader of anti-immigrant forces in the House, this bill places military troops on the border, dramatically increases criminal penalties and jail time for undocumented migrants and limits the number of visas available to foreign workers.
	Secure Borders Act, Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), former chief of the El Paso Border Patrol: Requires electronic monitoring of every mile of the U.S.-Mexico border, doubles the number of Border Patrol agents and increases the use of canine teams along the border.
	Securing America's Future through Enforcement Reform Act, Rep. Gresham Barnett (R-SC): Puts troops on the border, penalizes undocumented migrants, requires police enforcement of immigration laws and drastically reduces visas for foreign workers.
	Border Security Improvement Act, Virgil Goode (R-VA): Allocates $2 billion for the construction of a fence along the entire length of the U.S.-Mexico border.
	Secure America Act, John Hostettler (R-IN): Calls for expedited removal of all undocumented immigrants within 100 miles of the border, allows for the option of troops on the border, increases criminal penalties for anyone who enters the country after being deported, creates a new Bureau of Immigration Enforcement.