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| Tuesday, June 24, 2008 |
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SOCIAL JUSTICE: IMMIGRANTS: WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?
By St Mary Administrator @ 7:47 PM :: 48 Views ::  :: Human Concerns
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Immigration policy is one of the important issues facing our country. Although there is an uproar regarding immigrants, the U.S. does not even make it into the top ten list of countries with the highest share of migrants! Some myths regarding immigrants which have proved false: Immigrants do pay taxes, are employed (96%), do not take away jobs from Americans but fill open positions, and 75% have legal, permanent visas. Currently, the laws affecting immigrants are broken. They cannot get in line to come to the U.S. “like my ancestors did” because there is no line to get into, especially for unskilled workers. The number of permanent visas is so low (5000) that the U.S. economy would suffer greatly. And who says our ancestors were legal?
Five principles emerge from scripture and Catholic social teaching regarding migration: persons have the right to find opportunities in their homeland; persons have the right to migrate to support themselves and their families; sovereign nations have the right to control their borders; refugees and asylum seekers should be afforded protection; the human dignity and human rights of undocumented migrants should be respected.
What choices will I make?
· Get to know an immigrant, befriend them (volunteers at our Food Pantry meet migrants every week)
· Learn more about the issues of immigrants
· Contact representatives at state and national levels and make your opinions known
· Meditate on the scripture passages on migrants
· Write presidential candidates to ask how they plan to address the root causes of immigration
· Talk to friends and neighbors.
From: JUST PEACE, Newsletter of the Sisters of St. Agnes
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