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CURRENT
ISSUE: May 22, 2006
VOL.
44, NO. 10Oakland,
CA
U.S. bishops wary of Guard troops at border
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- President George W. Bush’s address May 15 on
immigration reform got mixed reviews from advocates for immigrants, who
expressed gratitude for his support of legalization for illegal immigrants
but had concerns about his plan to deploy National Guard troops on the
border.
Bishop Gerald R. Barnes of San Bernardino, chairman of the U.S. bishops’
Committee on Domestic Policy, said he welcomed the president’s speech
on the need to reform the immigration system, but expressed concern about
“the introduction of military personnel because there has not been
an adequate public discussion about its implications, especially for the
treatment of migrants.”
In his first such nationwide address on a domestic policy matter, Bush
gave his most explicit support to date for a program that would provide
a way for most of the estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants
in the country to legalize their status. He proposed requiring them to
pay a fine and back taxes, learn English and hold a job for an undefined
set number of years to be allowed to stay in the country.
Much of the president’s speech focused on border enforcement. He
said up to 6,000 members of the National Guard would be sent to the border
states of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, where they would
assist the Border Patrol in jobs such as intelligence analysis, installation
of fences and barriers, building roads and providing training.
In his statement, issued in Washington prior to Bush’s address,
Bishop Barnes reiterated the U.S. bishops’ position that “the
real solution to the immigration crisis lies in a comprehensive approach
to the problem.
This approach must include a long-term strategy to address the root causes
of flight, such as combating poverty in sending countries.”
“It also must include comprehensive reform of our nation’s
immigration laws which features an opportunity to earn citizenship for
the undocumented in our country and the creation of legal avenues for
migration for migrants to work and join families in a safe, orderly, and
humane manner,” the bishop said.
“We are hopeful that the president also will commit himself to these
elements as part of a comprehensive immigration reform bill,” he
added.
The bishop said immigration is an issue of “urgent national priority.”
He said the U.S. bishops for several years “have urged our elected
officials to address our nation’s immigration crisis in a just,
humane and comprehensive manner.”
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., co-author of an immigration bill approved
this spring by the Senate Judiciary Committee but still awaiting final
resolution, said in a statement that he is concerned that “the urgent
work of immigration reform is not sidetracked by the president’s
proposal to use the National Guard at the border.”
Kennedy said Bush’s leadership “is essential as we fight to
fix our broken system once and for all.”
Father Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, called the U.S.
immigration system “broken” and said he hoped the president’s
call for a comprehensive solution “ends the effort by some in Congress
to focus only on punitive enforcement-only solutions.”
A U.S. Border Patrol agent rides along the fence separating Tijuana, Mexico, from California, May 15. The Border Patrol recently reported that it had arrested 724,613 undocumented migrants crossing from Mexico into the U.S. along the 2,000-mile border since Oct. 1 last year, a rise of 6 percent from the same period a year earlier.
CNS PHOTO/DAVE GATLEY/REUTERS
