January 29, 2010
Immigrants in Indiana: Facts at a glance
- Immigrants make up 4.2 percent of Indiana’s total population.
- More than 35 percent of immigrants in Indiana are naturalized U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote.
- Immigrants in Indiana paid an estimated $2.3 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2007.
- The purchasing power of Indiana’s Latinos totaled $6.8 billion, and Asians totaled $3.1 billion in 2008.
Source: Immigration Policy Center: American Immigration Council, www.immigrationpolicy.org
The Church position on immigration reform
The Catholic Church does not support illegal immigration. The Church respects the right of nations to control its borders, and the legitimate need for the state to have reasonable requirements for citizenship and its privileges. Yet the Church sees some rights as inherent in the human condition, natural rights which extend beyond all national boundaries.
The Church evaluates public policy issues in light of Sacred Scripture, the teachings of Jesus Christ and from principles derived from our experience of trying to live and apply those teachings for many centuries. The Church’s consistent life ethic, the belief that all human beings, from conception to natural death, have inherent dignity given to them by God himself is applied to public policy.
The unborn, the elderly, the death row inmate, the poor, the handicapped, the undocumented immigrant are all human beings deserving respect and dignity. The Church approaches the undocumented immigrant not from a legal perspective, but from a moral one.
For more information on immigration or to read the Indiana Bishops statement on Immigration Reform entitled I Was a Stranger and You Welcomed Me: Meeting Christ in New Neighbors, go to www.indianacc.org Click “resources” and scroll down to Immigration.