February 27, 2009
State attempts to fix federal immigration problems
By BRIGID CURTIS AYER ( Indiana Catholic Conference)
INDIANAPOLIS — One family, two immigration statuses — parents are un-documented, children American citizens. This summarizes one of the primary problems in addressing the complexity of immigration laws especially ones that penalize the undocumented. The pathway to legal citizenship can commonly take more than a decade, and for many there is no clear or legal way to gain entry into the United States — but jobs and a better way of life are clearly an attractive and attainable reality. So immigrants arrive in droves to America.
Federal immigration laws clearly are broken, but can or should states intervene to fix them? Some state lawmakers think so, but the Church and many others testified at a recent Senate hearing in opposition to a proposed law that not only delves into federal territory, but could create more problems for all immigrant families (documented and undocumented), employers, and the health of an already ailing Indiana economy. (Related: The Church position on immigration reform)
Senate Bill 580, the undocumented immigrants’ bill, which passed a Senate Pensions and Labor committee, Feb. 18, by a unanimous vote, would create additional penalties for undocumented immigrants who drive without a valid driver’s license and create mandates and fines on businesses who employ undocumented workers.
Father Steve Gibson pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in East Chicago, a parish with a large Hispanic community, and Franciscan Father Tom Fox who serves as a Hispanic ministry assistant in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, know first hand the plight of Hispanic families resulting from flawed federal immigration laws and the additional damage a law like Senate Bill 580 will have on these families if it passes.
Father Gibson said, “The truth of the matter is there have been 300,000 people who lost their driver’s licenses last year in Indiana. Most of them are the family wage earner. Then you add spouses and children to that and you’re talking about a half a million people who have their whole security in jeopardy.
“What we have is a crisis here. These are the same people who were permitted to get driver’s licenses as long as they had some kind of identification. Now these same wage earners are being de-nied a renewal of there driver’s license.
He added, “Laws like this one and others like it that target businesses who employ immigrants are doing nothing but furthering the crisis. Because when employers release employees who are undocumented or when authorities try to step in and get undocumented people and take them out, they usually are parents. The parents are not about to leave because they have wives and children.
“Everyone agrees the immigration laws are broken. The only way to address it is to make the law clear and respectful to basic human rights. Laws that go against the immigrant only exacerbate the problem. It doesn’t cure anything,” he said.
“The cities up here in Northwest Indiana would collapse without the immigrant community. The many service jobs these people have served, in many respects, are the backbone of the community. Without them these cities would just collapse over night. And people know that. Mayors of the cities up here know that. That’s why some mayors are more kind than others to the immigrants.”
Father Tom Fox who testified in opposition to SB 580 told lawmakers, “Every-body acts as if you can separate the un-documented and documented families, but this has been going on so long that there are hardly any families that are not mixed.”
Father Fox said when he was questioned by the Senate panel following his testimony, he was pleased that he was able to reiterate some of the points that the U.S bishops make in the area of immigration. “The rights of the individual, the dignity of the human person override the right of nations to enforce borders.
“It is not uncommon in areas where sheriffs are more aggressive that immigrants are being picked up and are being deported without an order of deportation nor have these people committed any crime,” said Father Fox. “This kind of proposal encourages sheriffs and police officers to take more personal initiative to enforce federal immigration laws which they have no business doing.”
Glenn Tebbe, executive director of the Indian Catholic Conference, testified in opposition to the bill citing moral concerns the Church has for families and the harmful impact SB 580 would have on families and children around the state.
Angela Adams, associate attorney at Lewis and Kappes, a law firm that works with immigration law, said, “Our position is that immigration is a federal issue and they are the best equipped to handle and enforce it. We definitely need comprehensive and meaningful immigration reform, but that needs to come from the federal government.”
Also testifying in opposition to the bill were representatives from the business community who raised concerns about the negative impact the bill would have on businesses during this tough economic time and representatives from victims of domestic violence groups raised concerns the bill would further inhibit victims from getting needed help.