wfn.org | Families first, CWS tells Senate immigration committee

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

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> For Immediate Release				

Families first, CWS tells Senate immigration committee

Washington, D.C., Oct. 8, 2009 - At a U.S. Senate hearing today, global
humanitarian agency Church World Service called for immigration reform
that prioritizes family unity and provides a pathway to legal status and
eventual earned citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Church World Service "urges members of Congress to take into account
the voices of people of faith" who support these reforms, said CWS
Immigration and Refugee Program Director Erol Kekic in his written
submission to the hearing.

Kekic described a large and growing national movement in which people
of faith are attending prayer vigils and writing, phoning and visiting
their elected officials to advocate for humane, equitable immigration
reform.

"Faith communities around the United States are rallying behind
immigration reform," Kekic said.  "This energy and the strong
network from which it springs cannot be ignored."

Today's hearing, "Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Faith-Based
Perspectives," was held before the Senate Committee on the
Judiciary's Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border
Security, chaired by New York Senator Charles E. Schumer.

In its submission, Church World Service called for immigration reform
that:

*   Improves our family-based immigration system to significantly
reduce waiting times for separated families who currently wait many
years to be reunited.

*   Creates legal avenues for immigrants to safely and legally work
in the United States, with their employee rights fully protected.

*   Provides a pathway to earned legalization, including eventual
citizenship, to undocumented immigrants.  This would keep families
together, remedy the abuse of undocumented workers, and enhance
government knowledge of who is living in this country.

*   Mandates that domestic law enforcement agencies ensure the
safety of all persons, rather than attempting to serve as immigration
enforcement, which hinders justice for immigrants and citizens alike and
can result in criminals targeting immigrants who may not report crimes
due to fear of deportation.

*   Safeguards asylum seekers by ensuring them a fair legal process
without penalizing them with increased, unnecessary bureaucracy.

*   Facilitates immigrant integration by funding state and local
governments and community organizations that offer language and civics
education, outreach and naturalization application assistance and by
lowering such barriers as high fees and long backlogs.

*   Restores due process protections and reforms detention policies,
ending indiscriminate raids, improving detention conditions, expediting
the release of individuals who pose no risk to the community and
expanding the use of community-based alternatives to detention.

Church World Service is the relief, development and refugee assistance
agency supported by public donations, grants and 35 Protestant, Orthodox
and Anglican communions in the United States. The organization works in
the U.S. and internationally to eradicate hunger and poverty and promote
peace and justice.

Since 1946, Church World Service has helped more than 480,000 refugees
begin new lives in this country.  A CWS network of 32 community-based
affiliates in 22 states welcomes refugees, helping with job training,
English language learning, integration, citizenship acquisition, family
reunification, and other needs.  Most CWS affiliates are Board of
Immigration Appeals-accredited to provide immigration legal services,
and CWS is in the process of expanding immigration legal services in its
headquarters office.

Church World Service partners with other faith communities to mobilize grass
roots efforts in states key to enacting immigration reform. For the
past year, the work of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, of which
CWS is an active member, has motivated many thousands of people of faith
to sign petitions, attend prayer vigils, participate in Congressional
visits and advocacy calls, and to unite for ongoing action on
immigration reform.

> ##

Media Contacts

Lesley Crosson, (212) 870-2676, media@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin - 24/7 - (781) 925-1526, jdragin@gis.net