DECLARACIÓN DE LOS OBISPOS CATÓLICOS EN LA REUNIÓN REGIONAL SOBRE MIGRACIÓN

DECLARACIÓN DE LOS OBISPOS CATÓLICOS Y PARTICIPANTES EN LA REUNIÓN REGIONAL SOBRE MIGRACIÓN

(CENTROAMÉRICA, NORTEAMÉRICA Y CARIBE)

(San José, Costa Rica) — Nosotros, Obispos católicos responsables de las comisiones de movilidad humana reunidos en San José, Costa Rica, del 1 al 3 de junio de 2011, unidos a religiosos, religiosas, laicos, laicas, participantes de CELAM y de Cáritas Internacional, comprometidos con la realidad migratoria, expresamos nuestra solidaridad con nuestros hermanos y hermanas que migran en busca de una mejor vida en esta región.

Testigos del gran sufrimiento que viven las personas migrantes de nuestros países y regiones, quienes son víctimas de explotación y abuso por parte de varios actores (funcionarios públicos, empleadores sin escrúpulos y organizaciones criminales), nuevamente exigimos a nuestros gobiernos hacerse responsables de la protección legal a los y las migrantes, incluyendo a quienes buscan trabajo, solicitan asilo, refugio y han sido víctimas de Trata de Personas. Pedimos especial atención y protección para familias, mujeres y niños.

Europe: states violate the basic rights of migrants

Research on migrants identified destitute as a consequence of exclusionary state policies

(Brussels) March 28, 2011 – Throughout Europe thousands of migrants are deprived access to education, healthcare, housing and social welfare services, and employment opportunities. Tuesday Jesuit Refugee Service will present first-hand evidence of how government policies directly contribute to the destitution of migrants on the continent.

The briefing, held at Les Ateliers des Tanneurs, Brussels at 09:10, will feature three key speakers:

· Mr Simon Tesfamichael, an Eritrean refugee, will speak about his experiences of destitution in Italy.

· Ms Louise Zanré, JRS UK director, will describe how state policies force migrants into destitution, based on her daily contact with destitute migrants in London.

· Mr Stefan Kessler, JRS Europe senior policy and advocacy officer, will make policy recommendations based on the 2010 report, Living in Limbo, on migrant destitution in 13 European countries.

“The current migrant crisis in Lampedusa is an indicator of Europe’s larger inability to uphold the most basic rights of migrants. If EU states are unable to protect migrant’s rights in the short term, they risk fostering destitution in the long run. Destitution is a downward spiral of human indignity. Once migrants become stuck, it’s difficult and expensive to get them out of this situation”, says Mr Kessler.

Torn Apart: Immigrant Family Struggles to Stay Together

As the immigration debate rages, millions of American children are left with the real possibility that their undocumented parents will be detected and deported. For the past year, photojournalist Dai Sugano of the San Jose Mercury News and reporter Ken McLaughlin followed a California family on their emotional journey through the U.S. immigration system. Both parents came here as illegal immigrants, but all six of their children are American citizens.

Read more and watch the video here: http://www.mercurynews.com/torn-apart

Judge strikes down parts of Arizona’s SB 1070

(Washington, D.C.) July 28, 2010 – Judge Susan Bolton of the U.S. District Court for Arizona today issued an injunction preventing the most egregious sections of Arizona’s anti-immigrant law – SB 1070 – from going into effect tomorrow. The order covers the sections criminalizing immigrants for failing to carry documents with them at all times and requiring police to ask anyone for papers proving citizenship or legal status during traffic stops or housing inspections if they had a “reasonable suspicion” the person was undocumented.

“At the Kino Border Initiative’s Center for Deported Migrants in Nogales, Sonora, we are seeing increasing numbers of repatriated migrants each day. Hundreds of people come to us with blistered feet and with broken spirits,” said Fr. Sean Carroll, S.J., of the Kino Border Initiative.

Immigration reform is ‘a moral imperative’

Frank Sharry, the founder and Executive Director of America’s Voice, says Comprehensive Immigration Reform is taking immigration “out of the shadows and placing it under a regulatory regime that works, so that rights are respected and law and order is restored.”

“If you want to stop illegal immigration, be for Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” he says.

Mr. Sharry spoke during a one-day conference, Crisis at our Borders: The Human Reality Behind the Immigration Debate.

Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, the Jesuit Conference of the United States, Georgetown University’s Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service, the Institute for the Study of International Migration, and the Woodstock Theological Center hosted the conference in October, 2009 on the Georgetown campus in Washington, D.C.

A series of panel discussions at the conference aimed to put a human face on the migrant experience by sharing personal narratives of individuals crossing the border; explored political/legal, economic, ethical and law enforcement perspectives on the current immigration system; made the case for policy changes, discussed ways in which the current system is failing immigrants and our communities. It also explored the prospects for immigration reform, discussed the key players in the process and talked about what such reform may look like.

Police chief: immigration enforcement should be a Federal responsibility

Montgomery County Maryland Police Chief J. Thomas Manger talks about the conflicts that arise when local police are tasked with enforcing immigration laws.

Chief Manger spoke during a one-day conference, Crisis at our Borders: The Human Reality Behind the Immigration Debate.

Kino Border Initiative responds to migrants in need

Fr. Sean Carroll, S.J., the Executive Director of the Kino Border Initiative discusses how the KBI responds to the needs of deported migrants, who are often deported far from family and friends, and who may have suffered physical or emotional trauma.

Fr. Carroll spoke during a one-day conference, Crisis at our Borders: The Human Reality Behind the Immigration Debate.

Please update to our new RSS adress

Our blog has a new RSS feed URL, which should provide a more stable platform and faster load times. Please subscribe to
http://jrsusa.wordpress.com/feed/
in your favorite reader.

Public favors comprehensive immigration reform

The Center for American Progress reports that

There’s no doubt the politics of immigration reform are very complicated and that getting a bill through Congress will not be easy. But it’s important to be clear that the public is quite supportive of immigration reform, especially reform that is comprehensive and does not simply focus on punitive measures. This has been true of the public for some time and a new Benenson Strategy Group poll for America’s Voice demonstrates that it is still true today.

Read more here.

Pope: migration invites us to focus on unity of humanity

During the 6th World Congress for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI said the phenomenon of migration “has assumed immense importance,” noting how “the economic divide between poor countries and industrialized countries is growing ever wider.”

Many people, he said, “are forced to abandon their own lands and communities of origin; willing to accept work in conditions that in no way accord with human dignity,”

“Many migrants abandon their countries to flee from humanly unacceptable living conditions, yet without finding elsewhere the welcome they were hoping for. Faced with situations of such complexity, how can we not stop and reflect on the consequences of a society founded exclusively on material growth?”

“True development,” the Pope continued, “always has the characteristic of solidarity. … It is necessary to find adequate responses to the great social changes taking place, clearly bearing in mind that there can be no effective development if we do not support encounter among peoples, dialogue between cultures and respect for legitimate differences. From this point of view,” he added, “why not consider the current worldwide phenomenon of migration as a situation favorable to understanding between peoples, and to the building of peace and a form of development that involves all nations?”

“Migrations invite us to focus on the unity of the human family, the value of acceptance, hospitality and love for others,” This, the Pope concluded, “is why the Church invites the faithful to open their hearts to migrants and their families, in the knowledge that they are not just a ‘problem,’ but also a ‘resource’ that must be appropriately used for the progress of human beings and their authentic development.”