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For Current Issues- Civil Rights of Immigrants
UCM Public Action Meeting November 6, 2005 Presentation
Comprehensive Immigration Reform…………………………..…….. Bolivar Fraga
Hi, I am Bolivar Fraga, member of St. Clare Catholic Church and chair of the Immigration Reform Task Force.
I like to begin by asking you a few questions.
Do you want a secure America? YES
Then, I am certain you will support the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act.
Do you profess to be people of faith?YES
And believe everyone is made in the image and likeness of God? YES
Then, I am certain you will support the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act.
I support this act because it represents my faith values and my concern for our nation’s security.
Like all of you, I am a person of faith.
Like many of you, I have served in our country’s military and care deeply about our nation’s security. In fact, you could say my family has pretty good track record of defending our nation: two uncles fought in WWII, one in Korea, one in Vietnam, and my brother and I both served in the Air Force.
And like all of you, except if you’re Native American, my heritage goes back to another country. My grandparents came from Mexico. If you go back far enough, we are all immigrants.
This act is a bi-partisan proposal—also known as the McCain-Kennedy Bill—that promises to fix our broken immigration system.
Our present system does not keep people from coming illegally into our country. A terrorist could feasibly take advantage of the immigrant smuggling rings along our border to enter, as well as, the industry of falsified documents.
This bill will end all that. It:
- Enhances border security and enforcement
- Reunites families
- Creates legal avenues for migrant workers to enter our country in a safe and orderly manner
- And creates a six-year process for the undocumented to get green cards.
To qualify they would have to be employed or studying full-time. And then, they will have to prove that they have paid all their federal income taxes, passed medical and security checks, passed an English and civics test, and registered for the selective service and pay a $2,000 fee. THIS IS EARNED LEGALIZATION, NOT AMNESTY AND IT IS NOT AUTOMATIC.
Aren’t we better off knowing who is in our country? I sure think so.
And let us recall that the 9/11 hijackers had legal visas—which they obtained under a system without rigorous background checks.
It is no surprise that a number of our denominations and other faiths support this bill, which enhances our national security and respects the God-given human dignity of immigrants.
I think we can be proud of our church leaders in taking action to support this bill, such Bishop Barnes of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops who spoke in support of this bill in the Senate back in July.
I bet some of you consider the undocumented to be criminals. Yes, they have entered our country illegally. But I challenge you to consider them fellow human beings who have made a tough decision to come here undocumented because they had no other alternative. They need to earn a living and want to be reunited with their families.
What would you do to enter the United States? Would you risk death in the desert to enter the Promise Land? They certainly must have a heck of a good reason—a desperate need—to come here.
And besides, they work hard, and they pay taxes. According to the social security administration, they pay roughly 2.5 billion dollars in federal income taxes a year.
What about just rounding them up and sending them back? Well, our Secretary of Homeland Security recently stated, we cannot feasibly round-up10 million people and deport them all, and even if we could, according to Alan Greenspan, our economy would suffer.
More importantly, I think we can hear the voice of God coming through this bill: “When a foreigner resides with you in your land, do not molest him. You shall treat the foreigner who resides with no different than the natives born among you; have the same love for him as for yourself, for you too were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I, the Lord, am your God” (Lev 19: 33-34).
UCM urges you to contact our Congressmen and Senators and urge them to STAND UP! SPEAK UP! In support of the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act!
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