Bishops' immigration reform program taking root, say officials

Published: 2006-03-22

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. bishops' campaign to promote immigration reform measures that go beyond enforcement and strict border controls is beginning to take root, said two church officials involved in migration programs that benefit from the annual Catholic Relief Services collection. The reform campaign is producing a counterweight to a current trend stressing national security after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, said James Kuh, an official of the U.S. bishops' Migration and Refugee Services. Rima Kamal, research development officer for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, said the church is providing grass-roots education that is helping people distinguish between enforcement-only immigration proposals and more comprehensive legislation that covers issues such as expediting family reunification. Kamal and Kuh spoke during a March 21 teleconference to promote the annual CRS collection scheduled to be taken up in most U.S. dioceses the weekend of March 25-26. CRS gets two-thirds of the collection and the rest goes to other U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' agencies involved in providing aid or in public advocacy on domestic and international issues.

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