wfn.org | CWS to White House: 'Reform U.S. immigration to protect families"

["Lesley Crosson" <lcrosson@churchworldservice.org>]

CWS to White House: 'Reform U.S. immigration to protect families"

For Immediate Release

Editor's Note: Interviews scheduled on request

August 20, 2009, Washington, D.C. – Family unity must be a
cornerstone of U.S. immigration policy, Church World Service emphasized
in a meeting at the White House today on the need for immigration
reform.

In particular, CWS called for reforms that prioritize reunification of
spouses and of children with their parents, increase the number of visas
for family reunification, and reduce waiting times.  Family and work
visas should not compete, and there should be no “point system.�� Undocumented immigrants who complete a path to earned legal status
should be able to bring family members to the United States, CWS said.

Church World Service was among the more than 100 immigrants’  rights,
labor, business, and fellow faith organizations invited to the meeting
with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and other Homeland
Security and Justice Department officials.  President Barack Obama also
addressed the meeting.

CWS believes enforcement-only strategies will not fix America’s
broken immigration system.  The global humanitarian agency is
disappointed in the Administration’s continued reliance on such  flawed
enforcement strategies as home invasion raids, unnecessary detention,
and the 287(g) program, which empowers local and state law enforcement
officers to also arrest immigrants for documentation violations, making
immigrants fearful of reporting crime.

Such enforcement strategies are neither effective nor humane, and need
to be overhauled, Church World Service asserts.  And for enforcement to
be meaningful, it must be coupled with fair visa policies, especially
for families and workers.

Church World Service will continue to press the Administration and
Congress to enact immigration reforms that reunite separated families,
ensure due process, protect workers from exploitation, end unnecessary
detention, and provide a path to earned legal status for undocumented
immigrants.  Such reforms are needed urgently, CWS emphasized.

CWS’s 35 member denominations and their local congregations, along
with CWS-affiliated refugee and immigrant services offices across the
country, come face-to-face every day with the brokenness of U.S.
immigration policies and practices.  Their immigrant congregants and
clients and U.S.-citizen spouses and children have suffered family
separation, immigration home invasions and workplace raids, and
anti-immigrant rhetoric in the media and in their communities.

Its first-hand experience working with immigrants and refugees
motivates Church World Service to advocate for immigration reform that
prioritizes family unity, ensures access to the application process for
family and worker visas, provides alternatives to detention for asylum
seekers and other immigrants who are of no danger to the United States,
and allows undocumented immigrants to pursue a pathway to earned legal
status and eventual citizenship. CWS and its constituents are committed
to working with the Administration and Congress to enact these needed
reforms.

Media Contacts:

Lesley Crosson, media@churchworldservice.org, 
(212) 870-2676
Carol Fouke, cfouke@churchworldservice.org, (212) 8702673