5/16/2006

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Applauds President Bush's Leadership on Comprehensive Immigration Reform

BALTIMORE, May 16 /Christian Newswire/ -- Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) welcomes President George W. Bush’s efforts to secure comprehensive immigration reform and looks forward to working with the administration and Congress to achieve reforms that uphold our four principles: uniting families; ensuring worker rights and human rights; allowing those living in the shadows to live freely and openly in our society; and giving immigrants willing to contribute to our economy and society a path toward permanence.

President Bush reminded the nation in his recent address that the vast majority of immigrants are “decent people who work hard, support their families, practice their faith and lead responsible lives.” He challenged Americans, as citizens of “a nation of laws” and a “nation of immigrants” to be both a “lawful society and welcoming society at the same time.”

He called for immigration reform that secures U.S. borders, establishes a temporary worker program, creates an earned path to citizenship for the undocumented, and enables immigrants to become part of the “great American tradition of the melting pot.” Further, the President acknowledged that “when immigrants assimilate and advance in our society, they realize their dreams, they renew our spirit, and they add to the unity of America.”

“We welcome the President’s challenge to Congress to carry out comprehensive reform to lift up our nation as a lawful and welcoming society and believe that compliance with our principles best enables Congress to meet that challenge,” states LIRS President Ralston H. Deffenbaugh, Jr.

While LIRS supports the responsibility of our government to secure our borders and conduct orderly immigration processing, we contend that enforcement-only legislation such as H.R. 4437, proposed “expedited legal processing” provisions and work-and-return programs such as the guest worker program proposed by the White House are not the solutions to repair our broken immigration system.

“The system is broken because we have an unworkable law. Enforcement-only approaches will not reestablish respect for the law,” continued Deffenbaugh. “We must reshape the law to be consistent with our family values and economic needs. We must insist upon measures that provide vital checks and balances over the power of our executive branch of government while preserving our God-given human rights. Moreover, as we consider enforcement proposals, we must assure that overzealous enforcement does not create a climate of fear or lack of incentives so that people are afraid to come out of the shadows.”

In his speech, President Bush asked legislators to “remember that real lives will be affected by our debates and decisions, and that every human being has dignity no matter what their citizenship papers say.”

The current Senate compromise, “The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006” S. 2611, includes promising aspects such as a path to permanence for temporary workers, however, further amendments are needed to assure that it will achieve desired reforms.

President Bush closed his address by offering that America remains “the great hope on the horizon, an open door to the future, a blessed and promised land." As a faith-based organization with a long tradition of welcoming newcomers, LIRS recognizes that people come to this great land for family, work and freedom. We hope and pray that America’s door will remain open to deserving immigrants.

Since 1939, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service has worked with service, advocacy and educational partners nationwide to bring new hope and new life to America’s newcomers. LIRS resettles refugees, protects unaccompanied refugee and migrant children, including victims of trafficking, advocates for fair and just treatment of asylum seekers, seeks alternatives to detention for those who are incarcerated during their immigration proceedings and stands for unity for families fractured by unfair laws.

LIRS is a cooperative agency of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. With initiative and stewardship, LIRS seeks creative solutions for uprooted people regardless of race, ethnicity or religious beliefs.