Commonsense Immigration Reform

NETWORK's legislative agenda for 2015 can be viewed here.

Our Catholic faith grounds us in the realization that each person has inherent dignity because he or she is created in the image and likeness of God. As children of God, we are treasured and valuable as we are. Throughout the Gospel, there are countless references that we must ‘welcome the stranger’ and care for them as ourselves. Because of this, all our national policies, including our immigration policies, should respect and protect the dignity of each person. 

Our nation’s immigration system is broken. Increased enforcement is tearing families apart and causing suffering for those who are otherwise willing and eager to contribute to our society. Our nation needs an immigration system that reflects our faith values and the needs of the twenty-first century. Such a system reunites families and allows workers the opportunity to come forward without fear to pay taxes and earn legalization. A functioning system will serve the needs of our entire nation.

NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, calls for commonsense immigration reform that:

• Ensures family unity
• Protects the rights of immigrant workers
• Acknowledges that our borders are already secure, with only minor changes needed
• Speeds up processing of already-approved immigrants
• Enhances the present diversity visa program
• Provides a clear and direct pathway to citizenship for the 11 million people who are undocumented in the U.S.
• Protects and maintains President Obama’s 2012 and 2014 executive actions as a temporary fix, recognizing that we must continue to promote comprehensive reform
• Upholds the national and international legal rights of refugees and asylum-seekers
• Identifies and addresses the root causes (“push factors”) of migrations throughout the world
• Ends inhumane detention practices by closing detention centers and providing for alternatives to detention.

The time for commonsense immigration reform is now!

See NETWORK's statement here and watch a NETWORK video of Catholic sisters expressing support for the president's actions and immigration reform.

In this Congress, NETWORK will also continue to strongly oppose anti-immigrant legislation. A recent example is the letter we sent to Congress in February 2015 encouraging the passage of a "clean" funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, opposing anti-immigrant amendments.

For a fact sheet on immigration reform, click here. 

For information about the history of immigration policies in our nation, click here.