"My administration is fully behind an effort to achieve comprehensive immigration reform."
Only through comprehensive reform can we restore the rule of law to our nation’s immigration system.
We urge President Obama and congressional leaders to meet as soon as possible to discuss and draft comprehensive immigration reform legislation, with the goal of making it law by the end of 2009. The Catholic bishops of our country stand ready to assist in this effort.
If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow-creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large.
In my faith tradition we all start as strangers and aliens, outsiders to the commonwealth of God. But because we have a God who was willing to do what it took to include us (at great personal cost), we "are no longer strangers and aliens, but [we] are fellow citizens?" (Ephesians 2:18-19a)
So I find it a high honor to speak to those in power as an advocate for those who have no power. In a verse that would be echoed in many religions, Proverbs 31:8 commands us to "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves."
. . . So most people of faith are hoping for policies that will prioritize family togetherness, respect for the law, personal productivity, and compassion for those who are most helpless.
Conclusion
We do not envy you your charge. Immigration reform is a morally complex as well as a politically explosive challenge. But many of us are praying earnestly for you and for God's wisdom in this matter.
Including the stranger is not just a matter of compassion but a necessity for greatness.
Loving your neighbor as you love yourself is not only a moral commandment but a path
to national nobility, if we can build a nation of families and support networks that not only help the marginalized to be successful, but help the successful to be helpful, then we can better live up to our potential as a people.
In the end, I believe our nation will be not be judged by the productivity of our budgets, or the genius of our laws, or even the earnestness of our faith communities. We will be judged, both by history and by God, by the way we treated people, especially those who needed our help.
God of Cultures, we pray for the millions of immigrants who are living around the world in countries that may be hostile "strangers." Teach us to look beyond the borders of the nation and city in which we live.
God of the Poor, we pray that immigrant families and especially children who have restricted access to shelter, food, health care, and education would cease to be marginalized by the systems in which they live and instead be treated with dignity. We pray that they would be provided with covering shelter, nourishing food, sustaining health, and a nurturing education.
We pray for those who were born in the United States whose thoughts and actions may be fueled by racist and ethnocentric attitudes towards those who were born elsewhere. We pray for the abolition of individual and institutional racism.
We pray for those who live in constant fear of deportation and separation from their family. We pray that families would be able to remain together.
We pray that you would help us remember that all people possess inherent human dignity as your children, made in your image, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, age, socio-economic status, or legal status; in the undocumented sister and brother, let us see your Spirit, O Lord.
Help us not forget that you were an immigrant; that your family fled to Egypt when you were a child to escape Herod’s decree to kill every infant boy.
God, help us see you in the eyes of the migrant and to recognize your presence amongst the oppressed.
Amen
Dios de las culturas, oramos por los millones de inmigrantes quienes viven alrededor del mundo en países extranjeros y hostiles. Enséñanos a ver mas allá de las fronteras de nuestra nación y de la cuidad en la que vivimos.
Dios de los pobres, oramos por las familias inmigrantes y en especial por los niños que tienen acceso restringido a un hogar, comida, cuidado medico y educación, que cesen de ser marginados por los sistemas en los que viven y que puedan vivir en dignidad. Oramos por que se les provea con un hogar que los cubra, comida que los nutria, salud que sostenga y educación que los libere.
Oramos por todos esos nacidos en los Estados Unidos cuyos pensamientos y acciones pueden ser motivados por las actitudes racistas y etnocentristas en contra de aquellos que han nacido en otras tierras. Oramos por la abolición del racismo en todas sus formas.
Oramos por todos aquellos que viven en el miedo constante de ser deportados y separados de sus familias. Oramos por que estas familias sigan unidas tal y como lo mandas tu.
Oramos por que nos recuerdes que todo ser humano posee el derecho a vivir una vida digna como tus hijos, en imagen y semejanza a ti, sin importar su raza, etnia, genero, edad, estatus económico o estatus legal; en el hermano y hermana indocumentado, déjanos ver tu Espíritu, o Dios.
Ayúdanos a no olvidar que tú fuiste un inmigrante; tu familia huyo de Egipto cuando aun eras un niño para escapar el reglamento de Herodes de matar a cada varón primogénito.
Dios, ayúdanos a verte a ti en los ojos del migrante y reconocer tu presencia en medio de los oprimidos. Ayúdanos a reconocer las manos del opresor, que oprime cuando decidimos mantenernos en silencio.
Amen
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Borderline Cops | ||||
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"In the criminal justice system, anyone arrested is assumed innocent, but in the immigration system, they're put in detention, and then it's the individual's burden to prove they shouldn't be detained,"
