Just over one year ago Governor Donald Carcieri announced his crackdown on illegal immigrants in Rhode Island.
In issuing the executive order that sought to stop the “flow” of undocumented immigrants who were straining the state budget, the Governor set off a firestorm of controversy. Anti-immigrant supporters celebrated the crackdown while many, including Bishop Thomas Tobin, called the order unnecessary and unfortunate. A year later, Bishop Tobin has suggested that the order accomplished little more than to “create a certain amount of anger and division across the state and a certain amount of anxiety for those with documents and without.”
In a recent report on immigration, the Urban Institute suggested that immigration crackdowns and raids across the nation had resulted in the separation of families including separating children from parents. The report recommends that the current immigration policies which separate mothers and fathers from their sons and daughters must begin to address the best interest of the citizen children. Calling it a “matter of conscience” and an important step in the creation of a peaceful society, Cardinal Francis E. George, the Archbishop of Chicago and President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called upon the Obama Administration to end immigration raids and begin the comprehensive reform of immigration. “We cannot strengthen families when people live in fear from day to day,” suggests the Cardinal.
The Governor’s executive order and the resulting controversy highlight the real need to reform the entire immigration system, a position long advocated by the U.S. Bishops. Unfortunately with concerns over the economy taking precedence in Washington, D.C., the often contentious debate over immigration reform in Congress has been stymied. Crackdowns and raids have accomplished little other than to create an environment of fear and anxiety.
Immigration reform is needed immediately to stem the spread of fear and stop the separation of families in our nation. The hurtful rhetoric of xenophobes and fear mongers and the harsh crackdown and cruel raids cannot have the last word on the debate. St. Augustine once suggested that “the daughters of hope are anger and courage.” The anger surrounding the immigration debate is palpable on both sides. We hope that the Obama administration and U.S. Congress have the courage to reform immigration now!
