| Bishop Barnes Letter on Immigration
Dear Representative:
I write on behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to ask that you oppose H.R. 4437, the Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, which the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to take up this week.
While USCCB has great respect for the authors of H.R. 4437 and knows they are well intentioned, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) believes that enactment of H.R. 4437 would bring about severe and unjust consequences for immigrants and the nation. It is an overly broad and extremely punitive bill which is far broader in scope than illegal immigration. It would unduly harm immigrants and their families, including immigrants who currently are lawfully residing in the United States. And it would pose grave risk to immigrant children and people fleeing persecution. Moreover, the bishops are deeply disappointed by the bill’s enforcement-only focus and by the absence of reforms to the U.S. legal immigration system that would address our current immigration problems more comprehensively.
While the USCCB opposes many of the provisions in H.R. 4437, I would like to highlight some of the most egregious provisions of the measure and their potential harmful effects.
H.R. 4437 would deny basic due process protections to legal immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers. Several provisions in H.R. 4437 would deny basic due process protections to legal immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers. The expansion of expedited removal to within 100 miles of U.S. land borders could result in the return of bona fide asylum-seekers to their persecutors without providing them access to a qualified adjudicator. Imposing expedited removal on all persons apprehended at or between all land borders will eviscerate due process protections for thousands of people each year. No longer will asylum-seekers, victims of trafficking, battered women and children, or other vulnerable groups have access to judicial review or regular immigration proceedings. Rather, their fate will be determined by an immediate decision by an immigration enforcement officer with little experience or training in immigration law. We find this policy unjust and contrary to American values of due process and fairness.
Other provisions unfairly impact asylum seekers. Section 804 would require persons who are eligible for withholding of removal to prove that a “central reason” for their fear of persecution is one of the five statutory grounds enumerated in U.S. law, as opposed to current law, where they need only to demonstrate that it is more likely than not they will be persecuted upon their return. Section 605 would bar refugees and asylum seekers from legal permanent residence and citizenship if they commit a minor offense, such as petty larceny.
H.R. 4437 adversely impacts other legal immigrants, as well. For example, Sections 609 and 612 of the measure would make it more difficult for long term residents to obtain citizenship and even restrict their ability to seek review of DHS actions in District Court relative to their application for citizenship. These provisions, like many in H.R. 4437, have nothing to do with illegal immigration. They could lead to wrongful denial of citizenship to long term residents without any recourse for the resident. In addition, the legislation requires non-immigrants, such as students, professional workers, or religious workers, to waive any right to judicial review in removal proceedings as a condition of receiving their visa.
Section 602 of H.R. 4437 would permit DHS to circumvent the finding of the Supreme Court in Zadvydas v. Davis, which requires the release of indefinite detainees who have served their sentences and cannot be returned to their home countries. The exclusion of “inadmissible” aliens from any review for release under the section contradicts the Court’s finding in Clark v. Martinez, which extended the protections outlined in Zadvydas to Cubans. It is inhumane to indefinitely incarcerate persons who have served their sentences.
H.R. 4437 separates families. Several troubling provisions in H.R. 4437 would separate migrant families for indefinite periods. This could have a severe impact on children. The requirement under Section 401 that all immigrants who are apprehended at a U.S. port of entry or along an international or maritime border of the United States while attempting to enter the United States illegally be mandatorily detained would lead to the separation of U.S.-citizen children from their parents. Even for families are detained, our service programs have noted that DHS often separates children from their parents. Moreover, because of the lack of appropriate detention facilities, this provision would pose a grave risk that immigrants, particularly vulnerable children and women, will be housed in prisons or prison-like facilities and commingled with violent offenders. In addition, we are fearful that DHS would interpret Section 401 to mean that asylum-seekers, as well, who are fleeing persecution and have committed no crime, must be detained under this provision, even if they have met a credible fear finding.
In addition, Sections 201 and 203, taken together, would make “unlawful presence” a crime, rather than a civil violation, as it is under current law. This could have far-reaching practical and moral consequences, since it would bar persons from immigration relief and future legal entry or legal status. It is our strongly-held view that the overwhelming majority of migrants who are in the United States without legal status are not criminals but are trying to contribute to our country through their hard work. This provision would needlessly clog our courts and other law enforcement systems with needless litigation and adjudication; foreclose the option that many might have to legalize their status; and cause great harm to migrants who did not come to the United States illegally by their own choice, such as children who were brought here by adults, women who are trafficking victims, or other aliens who are subjected to exploitation.
H.R. 4437 would jeopardize humanitarian organizations, including church programs, and U.S. citizens. Section 202 would expand the reach of offenses relating to assisting persons who are unlawfully present in the United States and subject persons and entities to severe criminal and civil penalties. Under current law, humanitarian groups, including faith-based organizations, are not required to ascertain the legal status of an individual in order to offer basic needs assistance. Section 202 could lead to the imprisonment of members of humanitarian groups, including church personnel, for providing such basic needs assistance, including life-sustaining assistance. This provision could also apply to other professionals, such as health-care workers, lawyers, physicians, or nurses.
H.R. 4437 would disrupt immigrant and local communities by giving local law enforcement the authority to arrest undocumented immigrants. By criminalizing “unlawful presence,” the legislation would give local law enforcement personnel, who are charged to help enforce federal criminal law, the authority to arrest migrants without legal status, striking fear in immigrant communities and undermining the relationship between those communities and law enforcement. This could foster distrust in these communities and could make immigrants more reluctant to report dangerous circumstances and criminal behavior they observe in their communities.
H.R. 4437 would impose penalties on immigrants who have not committed an offense. Section 608 of the legislation would make deportable and inadmissible an immigrant who is a member of a criminal street gang, as designated by the Attorney General. It would deny such benefits as temporary protected status and asylum relief based on an administrative determination that a person participated in a designated gang. This provision would harm minors and others who are coerced into such gangs but have not engaged in any criminal activity.
These are only a few of the many provisions included in H.R. 4437 that we believe would cause undue harm and would not necessarily make our nation safer.
Finally, H.R. 4437 does not contain provisions necessary to solve our immigration crisis, including an earned legalization program, a temporary worker program, or family-based immigration reform. It also does not address some of the root causes of migration, including economic inequities in sending nations. In short, the enforcement-only focus of this legislation will only drive migrants and their families further underground, into the shadows, and will not prevent migrants from attempting to enter the United States to find employment.
In summary, H.R. 4437 undermines our country’s heritage as a nation of immigrants. I ask that you oppose this measure when it comes before the U.S. House of Representatives.
Thank you for your consideration of our views.
Sincerely,
Most Reverend Gerald R. Barnes
Bishop of San Bernardino
Chairman, USCCB Committee on Migration
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