The Arizona bishops have just issued an op-ed piece on Immigration Reform. Titled “Comprehensive immigration reform, not punitive state laws, the right approach to the immigration crisis,“ the article is certainly thought-provoking. It again affirms that the Catholic Church does not support illegal immigration. It then goes on to talk about the effects of the current immigration system which is clearly not working.
More and more states and cities across the country are beginning to enact their own laws in an attempt to “fix” what they see as their local immigration problems. As the article explains, what we need are not punitive, local laws that actually can make things much worse. Instead we need a comprehensive reform that can only occur at the federal level. The article recommends ”…creating visas for workers from other countries to work legally and … legalizing, through a fair and just process, the current undocumented workforce.” If immigration reform at the national level takes this approach, then “the problem of undocumented workers without legal status will dwindle.”
The article also refers to the pastoral letter that the Arizona Catholic Conference issued two years ago called You Welcomed Me. The Arizona Catholic Conference includes the Dioceses of Gallup, Phoenix and Tucson.
Posted by APWeb 
