Hastings referenced from the
nuns objecting to this piece of legislation for those reasons. Network Advocates for
Catholic Social Justice. Dear Members of the House of Representatives: Exactly one
week ago, President Trump announced the termination of the
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program,
putting at risk the lives and well-being of undocumented
immigrant youth who are valued members of our communities. DACA has protected nearly 800,000 immigrant youth from
deportation and allowed them to work, attend school, and be
publicly participating members of our communities. The President's action threatens every DACA recipient and
causes great anxiety. This anxiety exists not just with the
DACA youth but also in the broader community. We all are
concerned about their future and fear their deportation to a
country they neither know nor call home. Today, rather than
taking up President Trump's challenge to ``fix'' DACA, the
House Judiciary Committee is choosing instead to stir up
politics of fear in our communities by proceeding with H.R.
3697 in an effort to criminalize the undocumented status of
some members of our communities. Network Lobby for Catholic
Social Justice strongly urges Members of the House to vote NO
on H.R. 3697. The faith community has vigorously opposed any bill that
would promote the Trump Administration's stated goal of
engaging in ``mass deportation'' of immigrants. The Trump
agenda seeks to allow for the detention and removal of large
numbers of immigrants without any criminal records. H.R. 3697
is just the latest bill targeted to achieve this goal. The
bill purports to make communities safer by targeting the
deportation of people involved in criminal activity in gangs. However, it is poorly drafted and overboard with sweeping
generalizations. It even allows for the removal of
individuals based on the mere subjective belief of an
association to criminal activity. There is no requirement of
a criminal conviction for deportation. This violates any
principle of fairness as well as the Constitution's guarantee
of due process. As people of faith, we are called to love our neighbor and
welcome the stranger. As such, we stand in solidarity with
all people including our immigrant sisters and brothers. Catholic Sisters have a long history of work with immigrant
communities and a commitment to their safety and security. Under this bill, religious workers who are engaged in
immigrant ministry could be subject to prosecution. The
bill's harboring provisions under INA 274 are so sweeping
that religious workers who provide shelter, transportation or
support to undocumented immigrants could be found liable of
criminal activity. The federal courts have found that
``harboring'' includes offering a known undocumented
individual a place to stay. This statute has been used
against religious workers in the past, and this bill tries to
make it a weapon for the future. It is time for Congress to stop playing games with the
lives of our immigrant sisters and brothers. The real problem
Congress should be working on today is an effort to pass the
bipartisan Dream Act of 2017 championed by Congresswoman Ros-
Lehtinen (R-FL) and Congresswoman Roybal-Allard (D-CA). That
bill has broad support from the faith community and is a
substantive improvement to our fractured immigration system. We urge you to vote NO on H.R. 3697. It is poorly drafted
legislation that would increase the disruption in our
communities!
Keywords matched
immigration undocumented immigrants DACA immigrant deportation