Senate ID bill would hurt poor, legal immigrants
BY NEIL P. HARRISON
The top 2008 priority for Pennsylvania identified by Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati in his recent interview with The Patriot-News is Senate Bill 9. Making its way through the Senate since last spring, SB 9 requires the submission of government-issued identification as a condition of receiving a wide variety of public benefits.
In a state where 1.4 million people live in poverty, there is a $4.6 billion shortfall in adequate funding for K-12 public education, and nearly 800,000 people don't have health care insurance, a bill that would accomplish little or nothing is the top priority?
SB 9 would accomplish little or nothing. The bill's intended targets -- immigrants who are not lawfully present in the U.S. -- are already ineligible for all major benefit programs. And no evidence has been presented of a problem with ineligible immigrants improperly receiving public benefits.
At the Senate State Government Committee's hearing last October on this bill, no group or person stepped forward with any evidence -- not even one anecdotal example -- of undocumented individuals improperly receiving public benefits in Pennsylvania. No statewide organization gave unqualified support for the bill. Almost all of those submitting testimony were strongly opposed to it.
This bill would harm tens of thousands of low-income Pennsylvanians -- citizens and legal immigrants alike -- who lack government-issued IDs or cannot easily get it. These Pennsylvanians include victims of crime and domestic violence whose IDs have been stolen.
People of faith have always heard a call to raise our voices on behalf of those in greatest need and take action for justice, including people living in poverty, victims of domestic violence and minorities. We reject "enforcement only" legislation that criminalizes undocumented people and denies fair treatment for farm workers who provide our daily bread. Furthermore, we reject legislation that would do harm to needy people, including citizens and legal immigrants, through the denial of public benefits.
In setting forth principles for immigration reform, the faith community draws upon the Judeo-Christian tradition and the principle that we should show compassion to newcomers in our midst (Exodus 23; Matthew 25). These newcomers are integral to our communities and to America's economic, cultural and political fabric. As a nation of immigrants grounded in the rule of law, we must be humane and just to newcomers while assuring orderly migration.
As people of faith concerned with immigration reform, we support the rule of law and adherence to law and order. However, we must also seek to change the law if and when the law does not create a healthy existence. The status quo of exploitation, illegality and human suffering is unacceptable and we can wait no longer for our elected leaders to develop a practical and humane solution that we, as a nation under God, have an obligation to realize.
We, therefore, need to urge all elected officials to change their course and provide leadership that builds consensus around a comprehensive, fair and humane immigration reform plan enacted by Congress that is consistent with this nation's values and our belief that all men, women and families are created equal in the eyes of God.
The American migration story is one of our longest and richest traditions. Nearly all of us or our ancestors came to this country for family, work or freedom -- to join relatives, to find a job, to seek a better life, to escape persecution or flee famine, to pursue the American dream. These are the same reasons today's immigrants come. Lutherans recall their own migration story, including the World War II era when one in six of the world's Lutherans was a refugee or displaced person.
Let us stand together ready to work with our Congress and the president to pass a new, fair and humane comprehensive immigration reform law that welcomes immigrants for the common good. With a comprehensive approach to immigration reform, we can create a society that is stable, strong and healthy.
In the meantime, let us resist "enforcement only" legislation that harms needy people. SB 9 would harm not only undocumented immigrants, but people needing food assistance and other human services who are citizens and legal immigrants as well. Let us focus our attention on greater priorities rather than something that will accomplish little or nothing at all.
THE REV. NEIL P. HARRISON is executive director of the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania.