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Testimony of Kevin Collins, OMI on Immigration Policy before the Texas
House of Representatives, Joint Committee of State Affairs and Border
Affairs on March 28, 2007
Honorable
representatives, thank you for inviting me today to give testimony in
reference to the issues of undocumented immigration and border
security. I am presently the Pastor of a large Roman Catholic Church in
East Houston that serves many newly arrived immigrants from Mexico and
Central America. Our church belongs to the Archdiocese of
Galveston-Houston and is a member of The Metropolitan Organization. The
Metropolitan Organization is part of the Network of Texas Industrial
Areas Foundation Organizations.
Our Network
encompasses 13 sister organizations from the major metropolitan areas of
Texas and from cities along the Texas-Mexican border. We listen to
families in churches, schools, and other institutions across north,
south, east, west, and central Texas in order to help them organize
themselves to influence policies and practices that affect their lives.
Our families cover a broad spectrum of ethnic groups, religious
denominations, and income classes. We are one of the most broad-based
ecumenical groups that I know of. As always, we do not endorse political
candidates and remain non partisan.
I belong to the
religious congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. We
have over 4000 priests and brothers throughout the world. We are sent
to evangelize the poor. At the invitation of Bishop Odin of Galveston,
our French missionaries came to Texas in 1849. We rode on horseback up
and down the Rio Grande Valley from Port Isabel to Roma. We built
churches and brought the Gospel to many poor people. We continue to
work in Texas as pastors, preachers and teachers, especially among
people who speak Spanish. We have sent missionaries from Texas to all
parts of the world.
I have been
Pastor of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church for over three and half
years. We serve over three thousand families and the great majority of
them are first generation Spanish speaking Catholics. They come to
Houston and Texas because they want to work to feed their families that
they try to bring with them, or have to leave behind in the country of
their birth. Let me repeat: They come here to work. They don’t come
here for a hand out or to take advantage of any government program.
They come to contribute and most times they contribute more than their
share.
Let me share a
story with you. One of my duties as a pastor is to prepare couples for
marriage. When I first arrived in Houston, one of the couples with whom
I was preparing were working there in Houston. He was a mechanic and
she was cleaning houses. I would see them in church every Sunday.
Marcelo would come with his cousins and Flavia would accompany them.
They had a small marriage ceremony and reception because money was
tight. After the wedding, I would continue to see them. They were
very faithful. Then one day I noticed that I had not seen them in a
long time. Later, I saw their cousin and asked for them. Their cousin
told me that they had moved to North Carolina to find better paying
jobs. I haven’t seen them in the past two years.
I hope this
story illustrates what I have found to be very true. People migrate
here to work, to feed their families, to have a better life.
I believe many
people in our country have lost their moral compass and forgotten who
they are. While it is true that we must be a country of laws, we must
never forget that law was made for us not us for the law. Let me talk
about having a moral compass. When I turned eighteen, my father finally
let me get my driver’s license. When he lent me his car to go somewhere
he would tell me that he trusted me and he was sure that knew what to
do. Nonetheless, he would always say: “Son, it is not enough to be
right, because you can be ‘dead right’”. He would say this because he
wanted me to think and act with the idea in my head that just because
the law gave me the right of way, I was to take into consideration the
other people out there. Just because I had a green light, it didn’t me
I could drive into the intersection without looking to see if there was
somebody else there. Just because I was following the law, it didn’t
give me the right to smash up “his” car and myself and whoever or
whatever else was in my right of way.
While, our
federal immigration system is broken and it needs fixing, that does not
mean we should go about trying to fix it by making laws that are “dead
right”. Some of the proposals that you might be considering are
deadly. They come from an attitude that only says: Those people broke
the law; they are illegal. They are in our way. Let’s run over them.
This shows that many have lost their moral compass; they have forgotten
who they are. My Church and the IAF Network have promoted changes in
our immigration laws and system that respect the humanity of those who
need to migrate. We believe we should not try to fix problems that are
of the jurisdiction of the federal government.
We are
approaching the feast of the Jewish Passover and the feast of the
Christian Passover, Easter. These feasts celebrate events in the past
that we use to teach how we should live today. They remind us of who we
are.
The key events in the history of the Chosen People of enslavement by the
Egyptians and of liberation by God led to commandments regarding
strangers and aliens. “You shall not oppress the stranger; you know the
heart of the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Ex
23:9 & Dt. 10:18); and “When a stranger sojourns with you in the land,
you shall not do him wrong…you shall love him as yourself” (Lv.
19:33-34). Israel's conduct with the stranger is both an imitation of
God and the primary, specific Hebrew Bible manifestation of the great
commandment to love one's neighbor: "For the Lord, your God, is the . .
. Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who has no
favorites, accepts no bribes, who executes justice for the orphan and
widow, and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him. For the
Israelites, these injunctions were not only personal exhortations: the
welcome and care of the alien were structured into their gleaning and
tithing laws “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap
your field to its border…you shall leave them (the gleanings) for the
poor and for the sojourner. (Lv 19:9-10; cf. Dt 14:28-29).
The
Gospel of Matthew recalls the migration of the Chosen People from Egypt
as Jesus, Mary, and Joseph themselves were refugees in Egypt: "Out of
Egypt have I called my son" (Mt 2:15). From this account the Holy Family
has become a figure with whom Christian migrants and refugees throughout
the ages can identify, giving them hope and courage in hard times.
The Gospel also describes the mysterious presence of Jesus in the
migrants who frequently lack food and drink and are detained in prison
(Mt 25:35-36). The "Son of Man" who "comes in his glory" (Mt 25:31) will
judge his followers by the way they respond to those in such need:
"Amen, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my
brethren, you did it to me" (Mt 25:40).
Church teaching has a long and rich tradition in defending
the right to migrate. Based on the teachings of the Hebrew Bible and the
life and teachings of Jesus, the Church's teaching has provided the
basis for the development of basic principles regarding the right to
migrate for those attempting to exercise their God-given human rights.
Catholic teaching also states that the root causes of migration–poverty,
injustice, religious intolerance, armed conflicts–must be addressed so
that migrants can remain in their homeland and support their families.
Let me specify
these principles:
I. Persons have
the right to find opportunities in their homeland.
All persons have the right to find in their own countries the economic,
political, and social opportunities to live in dignity and achieve a
full life through the use of their God-given gifts. In this context,
work that provides a just, living wage is a basic human need.
II. Persons have the right to migrate to support themselves and their
families.
All the goods of the earth belong to all people. When persons cannot
find employment in their country of origin to support themselves and
their families, they have a right to find work elsewhere in order to
survive. Sovereign nations should provide ways to accommodate this
right.
III. Sovereign nations have the right to control their
borders.
We recognize the right of sovereign nations to control their territories
but reject such control when it is exerted merely for the purpose of
acquiring additional wealth. More powerful economic nations, which have
the ability to protect and feed their residents, have a stronger
obligation to accommodate migration flows.
IV. Refugees and asylum seekers should be afforded
protection.
Those who flee wars and persecution should be protected by the global
community. This requires, at a minimum, that migrants have a right to
claim refugee status without incarceration and to have their claims
fully considered by a competent authority.
V. The human dignity & human rights of undocumented
migrants should be respected.
Regardless of their legal status, migrants, like all persons, possess
inherent human dignity that should be respected. Often they are subject
to punitive laws and harsh treatment from enforcement officers from both
receiving and transit countries. Government policies that respect the
basic human rights of the undocumented are necessary.
I realize that
this committee does not represent a sovereign nation (although I bet
some of them like me own “Republic of Texas” passports). Furthermore, I
know the jurisdiction of the committee is limited. Nonetheless, the
bills that come before this committee should be judged by these
Judeo-Christian moral principles, especially the last one.
Our state laws
should reflect family values. The immigrants among us are here to try
to support their families and give them a better life than they had.
The people of my parish have a strong sense of family togetherness and a
strong work ethic. Many work two jobs. Many fathers have to leave
their families behind to find work. Many men are rebuilding hurricane
stricken areas of the Gulf Coast. When the roofers came to fix my
brother’s house in Biloxi, Mississippi, he would tell me that he could
have used me to help translate. Also, his family would not have gotten
back into their house as soon, had it not been for these migrant
laborers. My mother’s house is being fixed by men from Panama and
Brazil. These men and women are helping us rebuild and contributing in
many ways. In many ways they and their families are part of our future.
We owe them
respect and gratitude. We should not be looking for ways to deny them
the same rights and future that we afford those of us whose ancestors
migrated here long ago. We ought to remember that their children are
the least among us. We should not make it more difficult for their
children to get a good education and good health care.
Let me close
with a story of a man I knew from northern San Antonio. Not long ago he
lived out in the country. Subdivisions started growing up around his
town. There was a town meeting of angry anti-growth residents. My
friend, who was very conservative in his political leanings, got up and
gave a wonderful allegory. He said that most families have children and
try to provide the best for them. As their children grow, they make
plans to retire and send their kids off. But sometimes when the parents
think they are beyond their child-rearing days, God gives them the
surprise of another baby. What do they do? They take the child in and
raise it and love it just like the others. It wasn’t what they had
planned, but they do it anyway because that is what good people do, that
is what they know God wants them to do.
We have many new
unexpected “children” in Texas. God expects us to take them in and
treat them as if they are our own. Our ancestors learned this from
God’s commandments. We should not lose our moral compass. Our Network
believes we should not forget who we are or from where we came.
Reference:
www.justiceforimmigrants.org
Bishop’s
documents:
Global
anti-poverty efforts:
Many migrants
are compelled to leave their homes out of economic necessity in order to
provide even the most basic of needs for themselves and their families.
The bishops call for international efforts designed to create conditions
in which people do not have to leave their homes out of necessity.
Trade, international economic aid, debt relief, and other types of
economic policies should be pursued that result in people not having to
migrate in desperation in order to survive.
Expanded
opportunities to reunify families:
U.S. citizens
and legal permanent residents must endure many years of separation from
close family members who they want to join them in the United States.
The backlogs of available visas for family members results in waits of
five, ten, fifteen, and more years of waiting for a visa to become
available. The bishops call for a reduction of the pending backlog and
more visas available for family reunification purposes.
Temporary worker
program:
The U.S. economy
depends upon the labor provided by migrants. Therefore, many migrants
come to the United States to fill jobs. The bishops acknowledge this
reality and call for a more rationale and humane system by which
laborers from other countries can enter the country legally to fill
positions in the labor force, including on a temporary basis. Because
the U.S. experience with temporary workers programs has been fraught
with abuses, the bishops call for a temporary worker program that
includes:
Path to permanent residency which is achievable/verifiable
Family unity which allows immediate family members to join worker
Job portability which allows workers to change employers
Labor protections which apply to U.S. workers
Enforcement mechanisms and resources to enforce worker’s rights
Wages and benefits which do not undercut domestic workers
Mobility between U.S. and homeland and within U.S.
Labor-market test to ensure U.S. workers are not harmed
Broad-based
legalization:
For those in
this country without proper immigration documentation, opportunities
should be provided for them to obtain legalization if they can
demonstrate good moral character and have built up equities in this
country. Such an “earned” legalization should be achievable and
independently verifiable.
Restoration of
due process:
In recent years,
immigrants have been subject to laws and policies that debase our
country’s fundamental commitment to individual liberties and due
process. These laws and policies, including detention for months without
charges, secret hearings, and ethnic profiling, signal a sea of change
in our government’s policies and attitudes towards immigrants. We are a
nation with a long, rich tradition of welcoming newcomers. Government
policies that unfairly and inappropriately confuse immigration with
terrorism do not make us safer, tarnish our heritage, and damage our
standing abroad. The bishops urge our government to revisit these laws
and to make the appropriate changes consistent with due process rights.
Vatican
Secretary of State: Migrants have become an important source of labor.
They not only earn a salary for themselves and their families but, if
allowed to do so by legislators and their electorates, they will also
become an important source of wealth for their host countries by
maintaining standards of living through their contribution to the host
economy. Migrants are often motivated by the simple wish to work in
order to support their families. They too deserve equal pay and equal
protection under the law, not least because the jobs they do are often
the ones that no one else wants. Legal arrangements should be made to
allow families to reunite, not only for the sanity of family life, but
also to the social and moral benefit of the communities around them. Too
often a lack of normal family life leads to evils such as human
trafficking and prostitution on the margins of migrant communities. |
