April
25
CALL TO ACTION: TELEPHONE CALLS AND
LETTERS TO PA CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION: Comprehensive Immigration Reform
(CIR) legislation
Dear LAMPa Advocate:
Grace and peace
to you in the name of our risen Lord!
Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) legislation is a fast moving debate in
Congress during the next few weeks. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS)
coordinates ELCA leadership on this issue, and LIRS has concluded that
Pennsylvania is a top priority for involvement with this issue at this time.
It would help tremendously if Pennsylvania Lutherans could get involved in
this “Call to Action" about the importance of enacting humane immigration
reform.
The two top priorities for LAMPa in 2007-2008 are Poverty/Hunger and
Health/Healthcare. As Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) is related to these
LAMPa priorities, the ELCA has a significant commitment to this issue, and the
importance of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation to this debate, we are
collaborating with LIRS for related advocacy ministry. For additional
information about the ELCA commitment to this issue, please see a related
statement, "Evangelical Lutherans Call for Fair and Just Immigration Reform," by
the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA Presiding Bishop and Ralston H. Deffenbaugh, Jr.,
LIRS President at www.elca.org/advocacy/immad0306-5.pdf, or contact the LAMPa
office, (717) 232-9128, lamp@paonline.com. Enclosed is more detailed background
information about the particular legislation relating to the proposed
advocacy.
It would be appreciated if you would file post-call, email, and visit reports
with the LAMPa office (lamp@ paonline.com) as well (see similar LIRS requests),
for any related advocacy that you do on this issue (including copies of email
and letters sent) so that we may coordinate potential future action. If you
would be interested in participating in visitations to congressional offices
with groups organized by LAMPa/LIRS, please let us know.
Thank you for your partnership in ministry with and for the poor, vulnerable,
disenfranchised, and on behalf of all God's creation!
Resurrection blessings,
The Rev. Neil P. Harrison
Executive Director
ELCA Policy Base: A Message on...Immigration- November 16, 1998
Sufficient, Sustainable, Livelihood for All - August 20, 1999
Background on COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM
This section includes: 1) Action Alert on Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR); 2) LIRS (Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service) backgrounder on CIR; 3) links to other resources on CIR.
Action Alert on Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR).
Who's my Senator or Congressional Representative? House: http://www.house.gov/writerep/ Senate: //www.senate.gov/index.htm
As soon as possible this week, call your Senator and Congressional Representative: FILE a Post-call report: please send an email to TakeAction@LIRS.org stating 1) which office you called; 2) who you talked to; 3) any notes or feedback you received.
Urge them to support comprehensive immigration reform this year. Tell them that the current immigration system is broken and that Congress must fulfill its responsibility to develop a workable, humane system that serves the common good. Reform must:
1. protect and unite families;
2. safeguard human and worker rights;
3. secure our borders without increasing detention and enforcement measures or taking away people’s rights and dignity;
4. end marginalization and allow people to come out of the shadows; and
5. provide a path to permanence for current and future newcomers.
Conclude with these comments:
1. Tell your Congressional member that you strongly oppose the current White House proposal because its reduction of family visas would have a devastating impact on family unity.
2. Ask your House Representative to co-sponsor the STRIVE Act, introduced by Representatives Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Luis Gutierrez (D-IL).
3. Tell them you have concerns that STRIVE’s enforcement provisions may deprive immigrants of basic due process and unnecessarily expand the use of detention against immigrants. Ask your House Representative to help fix these problems in STRIVE.
As soon as possible this week, write your Congressional Representative: FILE a Post-report: please send an email to TakeAction@LIRS.org with a cc of the letter you sent.
------
SAMPLE LETTER to your House Representative (LIRS recommends that you personalize this letter.)
Dear :
I write to ask you to make comprehensive immigration reform a priority this year. In March, Congressmen Flake and Gutierrez introduced the bi-partisan Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act of 2007 (STRIVE Act). STRIVE is a good bill, and I ask that you lend your support to it and consider joining as co-sponsor to STRIVE. Please oppose the current White House proposal because its reduction of family visas would have a devastating impact on family unity.
Though STRIVE has all the essential components necessary for workable, humane immigration reform, I have concerns that STRIVE’s enforcement provisions may deprive immigrants of basic due process and unnecessarily expand the use of detention against immigrants. If you co-sponsor STRIVE, I hope you will help fix these problems.
Please keep in mind these key principles for immigration reform:
protect and reunite families by fixing the family reunification system and eliminating visa backlogs;
safeguard the rights of immigrants in their places of employment, at home, and school;
secure our borders without increasing detention and enforcement measures or taking away people’s rights and dignity.
end the marginalization of immigrants now and in the future, enabling them to come out of the shadows, by creating a secure, orderly and humane immigration process that serves the common good;
provide a viable path to permanence for current and future newcomers, enabling them to lead full lives and fully contribute to America.
I believe these basic principles should form the foundation of real reform. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
-----
LIRS BACKGROUND ON COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM
Why LIRS supports Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) calls upon Congress and the President to take immediate action and fix our broken immigration system. The U.S. immigration system is not providing a way for the millions of undocumented immigrants who are already residing here to gain legal status. Our system is failing to meet the nation’s need for workers to fill the many skilled and un-skilled jobs that support our vibrant economy. Increasingly, the government is detaining undocumented immigrants—including children and families. This costly practice is not an effective response to a complex problem. Nor are punitive enforcement measures that deprive undocumented immigrants of due process and fundamental rights.
In setting forth principles for immigration reform LIRS draws upon our tradition of faith and the principle that we should show compassion to newcomers in our midst. (Exodus 23; Matthew 25). The Bible teaches: “When an alien resides with you in your land you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you.” (Leviticus 19).
LIRS Immigration Principles:
Providing a path to permanence
Comprehensive immigration reform must provide a path to permanent status for 12 million undocumented immigrants currently residing in the United States and must afford undocumented children and women equal opportunities to pursue legalization.
Protecting and uniting families
Family unity has always been a cornerstone of U.S. immigration policy. Yet the current backlog of family preference visas has kept thousands of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents separated from their families, in some cases for as long as 20 years. Comprehensive immigration reform must eliminate visa backlogs and enable families to reunite with their loved ones.
Protecting human rights
LIRS opposes the government’s skyrocketing use of detention—now up to 28,000 imprisoned per day—for immigrants and families who pose no danger or flight risk. Comprehensive immigration reform must prioritize use of parole and alternatives to detention that are less costly and more effective.
Families and children should never be detained in penal settings like those used in Texas and Pennsylvania. Congress should ban detention of families and children.
Comprehensive reform should afford every immigrant a fair opportunity to apply for immigration status —including access to counsel and the right to review in federal court.
LIRS opposes any expansion of “expedited removal,” a practice that puts asylum seekers and vulnerable immigrants at risk of wrongful deportation without access to a lawyer or a hearing.
Ending marginalization While the United States has the sovereign responsibility to control its borders, it must also create migration policies consistent with its constitutional and humanitarian values.
§ LIRS opposes “enforcement only” legislation that criminalizes undocumented women, children and men whose only legal violation is their lack of immigration status.
§ LIRS opposes gang legislation that is overly broad and criminalizes even vulnerable immigrant youth. Such legislation must account for the fact that many immigrant children have suffered poverty, benefited from limited formal education, and faced life-threatening pressures to join gangs.
-----
LINKS ON COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM:
For a brief overview of the STRIVE Act, introduced in the House of Representatives on March 22, visit the National Immigration Forum website or link directly here: http://www.immigrationforum.org/documents/PolicyWire/Legislation/110/STRIVE_Glance.pdf
For a comparison of the STRIVE Act and the White House proposal, visit the Migration Policy Institute’s website or link here: http://www.migrationinformation.org/USfocus/display.cfm?ID=595
------
III. Targeted Action Alert and Background information about Refugee Protection and the “Material Support” Bar.
This section includes: 1) Targeted Action Alert on refugee protection through reform of the “material support” bar to admission; 2) LIRS backgrounder on the issue and 3) links to other resources.
Targeted Action Alert to House Members to co-sponsor Refugee Protection/“Material Support” reform:
Who's my Congressional Representative? House: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
As soon as possible, call your Congressional Representative. FILE a Post-call report: please send an email to TakeAction@LIRS.org stating 1) which office you called; 2) who you talked to; 3) any notes or feedback you received.
If your representative is on this list, he/she co-sponsored HR 5918, the bi-partisan material support reform bill which Joseph Pitts (R-PA) introduced last year. Thank him/her for last year’s sponsorship and urge co-sponsorship for a similar bill that Pitt’s plans to introduce this year:
Rep Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI-2]; Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [D-MI-14]; Rep Davis, Susan [D-CA-53]; Rep Ehlers, Vernon J. [R-MI-3];
Rep Honda, Michael M. [D-CA-15]; Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila [D-TX-18]; Rep Lantos, Tom [D-CA-12]; Rep McCollum, Betty[D-MN-4]; Rep McCotter, Thaddeus G. [R-MI-11] Committed to co-sponsoring for 2007; Rep McGovern, James P. [D-MA- ]; Rep Payne, Donald M. [D-NJ-10]; Rep Pence, Mike [R-IN-6]; Rep Price, David E. [D-NC-4]; Rep Rohrabacher, Dana [R-CA-46]; Rep Rothman, Steven R. [D-NJ-9]; Rep Smith, Christopher H. [R-NJ-4]; Rep Souder, Mark E. [R-IN-3]; Rep Wamp, Zach [R-TN-3]
If your representative did not co-sponsor last year, urge him/her to co-sponsor Pitt’s upcoming bi-partisan material support reform bill.
In either case, you can explain to him/her that
1. the overly broad security provisions of the Patriot Act and REAL ID Act are having unintended consequences of keeping out deserving refugees, asylum seekers and their families;
2. the definition of barred groups is so broad that even legitimate democratic resistance groups and their supporters are barred;
3. the definition of material support is so broad that even minimal support, inadvertently given, years ago, even if given after coercion bars one from admission to the US; and
4. while waivers have helped bring in some refugee groups, the Department of Homeland Security has asked Congress for broader waiver authority, explaining that 20% of a deserving refugee group to whom they had given a waiver could not be protected under the current waiver authority.
Ask your House Representative to co-sponsor the bi-partisan material support reform proposal that will soon be introduced by Joseph Pitts (R-PA). It would stop the unintended consequences of barring deserving refugees, asylum seekers and their family by addressing the unintended consequences listed above. It is the same as Pitt’s proposal last year with the addition of providing DHS with an expanded waiver authority.
As soon as possible this week, email your Congressional Representative:
FILE a Post-report: Please send an email to TakeAction@LIRS.org with a cc of the letter you sent.
SAMPLE LETTER to House
(LIRS recommends that you personalize this letter.)
Dear Representative:
I write to ask you to co-sponsor a bi-partisan legislative proposal that Joseph Pitts (R-PA) plans to introduce soon that would assure refugee protection for certain victims of persecution and terrorism. The bill is similar to HR 5918 that Mr. Pitts and 20 co-sponsors introduced last year. [(add for 5918 cosponsors …)[[Thank you for co-sponsoring last year’s bill. Please consider co-sponsoring this year’s bill, too.]]
The overly broad security provisions of the Patriot Act and REAL ID Act continue to have unintended consequences of keeping out deserving groups of refugees, asylum seekers and their families:
§ the definition of barred groups under these laws is so broad that even legitimate democratic resistance groups and their supporters are barred;
§ the definition of “material support” to groups is so broad that even minimal support, inadvertently given, years ago, even if given after coercion bars one from admission to the US; and
§ while the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued some waivers that have helped bring in some refugee groups, they have asked Congress for broader waiver authority, explaining that 20% of a deserving refugee group to whom they had given a waiver could not be protected under the current waiver authority.
Representative Joseph Pitts (R-PA) bi-partisan proposal would stop the unintended consequences of barring deserving refugees, asylum seekers and their family by addressing the unintended consequences listed above. It is the same as Pitt’s proposal last year with the addition of providing DHS with an expanded waiver authority.
I look forward to hearing your response. Thank you if you co-sponsored this legislation last year and/or have already committed to co-sponsorship this year.
Sincerely,
---
Background Information on Material Support: Unfair Material Support Security Provisions Unfairly Bar Refugees from Protection
The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 and the REAL ID Act of 2005 were intended to protect Americans from terrorists and those who support terrorist organizations. Unfortunately, the way the U.S. government has enforced these two laws has had unintended consequence for vulnerable migrants. Many deserving refugees and asylum seekers have been barred from finding a safe haven in America. Many former refugees and asylees already living here have been unable to become legal permanent residents and to bring their families to join them in the United States. We know that “millions of refugees are in desperate need of our Christian charity and support,”(1) yet these laws directly hinder our nation’s ability to provide for them and welcome them into our communities.
One issue is the definition of “material support” which is very broadly defined in the laws to include any financial, physical or material assistance of any armed resistance against a country’s government. Consider some of the circumstances that were included:
§ any small amount given, even if given many years ago, and even if the support was coerced
§ ransom paid to kidnappers
§ household chores done for rebels threatening sexual violence
§ support to groups resisting governments that are U.S. enemies
§ support to a resistance group that has U.S. government support
A second issue is the overly broad definition of terrorist groups. Those groups include virtually any group that raises up armed resistance against their government. This has often led to absurd results, keeping deserving refugees out. For example, refugees have been barred from U.S. refugee protection because they supported or were involved in armed resistance against their government, even though the United States supported that resistance and considered the country to be a U.S. enemy. Among others, this has included Montagnards and Hmong from Southeast Asia.
Because of the unintended consequences of the material support provisions, thousands of deserving refugees continue to languish in uncertainty in refugee camps and urban ghettos around the world, hundreds of asylum seekers face indefinite delays in receiving protection, and hundreds of refugees and asylees are denied integration into our society and reunification with their families as green card applications and family unity requests are put on hold.
These consequences contrast starkly with the commitment of LIRS’s supporting church bodies to “a generous policy of welcome for refugees….including fairness in visa regulations and in admitting and protecting refugees.”(2) They also contrast with guidance in establishing policy related to the fight on terrorism: “Policies, practices, and attitudes that are hostile to immigrants living in the United States and that unduly curtail the legal arrival of immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers fail to live up to our country’s tradition of welcoming newcomers in a fair and generous way.”(3)
These unjust and unintended consequences are in stark contrast to U.S. foreign policy as well as our nation’s spirit of welcome for those who stand for freedom. Even experts outside the refugee and migration field are seeking a change in our laws. Professor Margaret Stock of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point says that the material support provisions represent “one of the stranger and more embarrassing legal conundrums arising out of recent efforts…to tighten…laws relating to terrorism.”
The Bush administration must be commended for issuing waivers and taking other steps that have allowed certain refugee populations to escape the unjust consequences of our security laws. Unfortunately, processing under these waivers has so far left 20 percent of these populations still without protection, including members of legitimate democratic resistance movements. Further, no waivers have yet been applied to asylum seekers or to refugees and asylees in the United States applying to be joined by relatives or applying to become legal permanent residents. Existing waivers are only a partial solution; a legislative fix is clearly required.
Links on Material Support: http://www.refugeecouncilusa.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, “Resolution to Support Refugee/
Immigrant/Asylee Resettlement.” June 2006. http://www.lcms.org/?9989
[2] Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, “A Message on Immigration,” 1998, http://www.elca.org/socialstatements/immigration.
[3] “Living in a Time of Terrorism,” Message from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of American, April 18, 2004