Over the weekend hundreds of thousands of people rallied in support of just immigration reform in our nation.  This week the Senate will be debating legislation that may or may not meet this standard.

As I am writing this, the Senate Judiciary Committee is meeting to complete its work on immigration reform legislation.  The committee is trying to pass its bill by the end of the day in preparation for debate by the full Senate this week.  It has been pressured to work more quickly because Senator Frist has threatened to bring his enforcement-only legislation (similar to the punitive House bill H.R. 4437) to the floor tomorrow if the committee has not finished its work.  In a positive development, earlier today the committee voted to remove provisions from its bill that would have criminalized the provision of humanitarian assistance to undocumented immigrants. Additional votes on an earned legalization program (along the lines of the proposal put forward by Senators McCain and Kennedy) and a guest worker program are expected this afternoon. However, the committee bill still contains some troubling provisions.

Whatever the outcome of the Judiciary Committee's work, the Senate will be debating immigration reform THIS WEEK.  Your letters and calls are crucial to ensuring that the final Senate bill is comprehensive and compassionate!

          ACTION NEEDED:         

1) Write your Senators and urge them to support comprehensive immigration reform and oppose enforcement-only legislation. A sample letter is available on our action website for you to edit and send.  Please personalize the letter as much as possible for greater impact.  If you have any questions about how to edit the letter, please let me know.

2) Call your Senators with the same message. The Senate Switchboard can be reached at 202.224.3121 - just asked to be connected to your Senator's office.  Additional talking points and information are available at our website or the USCCB's Justice for Immigrants website.

3) Participate in local activities in support of immigrants and comprehensive immigration reform. A listing of events is available here.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

A Pastoral Letter on Migration - (developed by the Arizona Catholic Conference and the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Van Nuys)

Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope (USCCB)

"This atmosphere of welcoming is increasingly necessary in confronting today's diverse forms of distancing ourselves from others. This is profoundly evidenced in the problem of millions of refugees and exiles, in the phenomenon of racial intolerance as well as intolerance toward the person whose only "fault" is a search for work and better living conditions outside his own country, and in the fear of all who are different and thus seen as a threat."

-John Paul II, "Welcoming the Poor: Reigniting Hope," Origins 27:36 (February 26, 1998): p. 605