Terri
01-25-2003, 09:52 AM
Catholic Bishops Pan U.S. Immigration Laws
BY SERGIO BUSTOS
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON -- Calling U.S. immigration laws "flawed" and "morally unacceptable," Catholic bishops from the United States and Mexico urged the Bush administration and Congress on Friday to approve legislation that would include granting residency to the nation's 8 million to 9 million undocumented immigrants.
"It is disturbing that many policy-makers condemn the presence of the undocumented [immigrants] while quietly acquiescing to a system which benefits from their labor without recognizing their basic rights," Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Wenski of Miami said at a news conference. "The consequences of this flawed system -- the exploitation, abuse and even the death of migrants -- are morally unacceptable."
Wenski, who chairs the U.S. bishops migration committee, equated U.S. immigration policies to the Jim Crow laws that states and cities approved from the 1880s through the 1960s to legally discriminate against blacks.
"The United States is creating a new underclass by keeping millions of people undocumented," he said.
Full Story (http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Jan/01252003/saturday/23158.asp)
At least as far as non-Catholics are concerned this is a group that would do well to maintain a low profile.
To say they have lost moral authority with the general populace is a huge understatement. http://gopusa.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/fire.gif
BY SERGIO BUSTOS
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON -- Calling U.S. immigration laws "flawed" and "morally unacceptable," Catholic bishops from the United States and Mexico urged the Bush administration and Congress on Friday to approve legislation that would include granting residency to the nation's 8 million to 9 million undocumented immigrants.
"It is disturbing that many policy-makers condemn the presence of the undocumented [immigrants] while quietly acquiescing to a system which benefits from their labor without recognizing their basic rights," Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Wenski of Miami said at a news conference. "The consequences of this flawed system -- the exploitation, abuse and even the death of migrants -- are morally unacceptable."
Wenski, who chairs the U.S. bishops migration committee, equated U.S. immigration policies to the Jim Crow laws that states and cities approved from the 1880s through the 1960s to legally discriminate against blacks.
"The United States is creating a new underclass by keeping millions of people undocumented," he said.
Full Story (http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Jan/01252003/saturday/23158.asp)
At least as far as non-Catholics are concerned this is a group that would do well to maintain a low profile.
To say they have lost moral authority with the general populace is a huge understatement. http://gopusa.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/fire.gif