wfn.org | Immigration reform now: Dollars, Sense, Ethics, says Church World Service

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Media Contacts: Lesley Crosson, Church World Service, (212) 870-2676,
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Jan Dragin - 24/7 - (781) 925-1526, jdragin@gis.net

Immigration reform now: Dollars, Sense, Ethics, says Church World
Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. --  April 20, 2010 -- Increasing the U.S. Gross
Domestic Product by $1.5 trillion over the next ten years is not a bad
outcome, says humanitarian and advocacy agency Church World Service who
exerted new pressure on Congress Monday to pass comprehensive
immigration reform legislation this year, citing positive economic
reasons among others for urgency.

Despite major financial reform issues and climate and energy
legislation now facing Congress and the administration before mid term
election fever overtakes Capitol Hill, CWS is urging Congress to enact
immigration reform now -- specifically, reform that reunites families
and provides a pathway to legal status and eventual citizenship for
undocumented immigrants.

"Immigration reform isnâ??t just the moral thing to do, itâ??s  the
practical thing to do and it's whatâ??s best for the United States,"
said Church World Service Executive Director and CEO The Rev. John L.
McCullough.

In letters to members of the Senate and House, McCullough cited a
recent report by the Center for American Progress which found that a
pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants and reforms to the
visa system would increase the gross domestic product by $1.5 trillion
over 10 years, including increases in tax revenue, investment, and wage
growth and job creation for native-born and newly legalized workers.

The report projected a related increase in consumer spending and a
nearly $5 billion increase in tax revenues.

"Both the decisions about immigration reform and the tenor of the
debate in Congress will say a lot about the kind of nation we are and
the kind of nation we will become," McCullough said.

The advocacy push is the latest in CWS's ongoing campaign for more
humane immigration policies during the current and the previous
administration.  It builds upon the momentum of the March for America,
which brought more than 200,000 people to Washington last month for a
massive immigration reform rally.

"We have a chance right before us, to transform a dysfunctional,
unjust, anti-family system into something that reflects the best of who
we are, while helping our economy," McCullough said in the congressional
communiqué.  "Our communities cannot wait for immigration reform. Loved
ones separated, workers exploited, communities in fear - we need
Congress to exhibit the moral courage necessary to enact immigration
reform this year.

"When mothers are torn from their children in middle-of-the-night home
invasion immigration enforcement efforts; when fathers are rounded up in
the middle of the workday in raids; when our immigrant brothers and
sisters are shamed in their communities by racial profiling; when those
who seek to reunite with family members must wait years, often decades,
to see their loved ones - something must change," he said, "and it is
the responsibility of Congress to change it for the better."

Over the past year, CWS advocacy efforts for just immigration reform
has included petitions signed by millions across the U.S., sending of
postcards, hosting of prayer vigils, and joining with grassroots
advocates in lobbying members of Congress. As part of the agency's
global and domestic immigration and refugee services program CWS works
with community agencies to welcome immigrants by providing ESL services
and citizenship classes, and is now expanding its immigration legal
services in cities across the country.

For full text of McCullough's letter, visit:

http://www.churchworldservice.org/site/DocServer/CWS_Director_Calls_for_Immi 
gration_Reform_This_Year.pdf?docID=3181

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