Bishop asks Bush to support immigration bills, enable legalization

Published: 2004-04-15

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The president of the U.S. bishops' conference asked President Bush to exert his influence in getting two pending immigration measures through Congress and to modify his administration's proposals to help more immigrants legalize their status. In an April 13 letter, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Ill., asked Bush to support bills that would give some foreign-born farmworkers and some undocumented high school students the chance to become legal permanent residents. Bishop Gregory also asked the president to modify his proposals for a guest worker program to provide a path to legal permanent residency for illegal immigrants already in the United States. One of the pending bills is the Agricultural Jobs, Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act, known as AgJOBS. A second pending bill is the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act.

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