Immigration: Welcoming the Stranger
Welcoming the stranger with compassion is at the heart of the immigration debate. While immigration
as an issue may have fallen to the bottom of the rankings in our annual member poll, it remains unfair and unjust to target a particular ethnicity or group of people when it comes to setting public policy. Our values are what have made this country and this Commonwealth great. These values include justice and respect for the dignity of every human being. We believe immigration policies should be pragmatic and reflect our values.
Legislatively, our work on this issue will follow the lead of our partners in immigration coalitions, but we
will also bring the unique perspective of the faith community to this issue. In particular, we will continue
to protect the ability of faith communities and service organizations to provide assistance and live out the call to social justice work. It is impractical, unfair and a potential violation of religious liberty to force religious and charity groups to enforce the federal government’s immigration laws. Placing unwieldy regulations on faith communities and service organizations attempting to provide critical services to people in need – financial counseling, health care, or just a hot meal and a bed – is an ineffective avenue for solving this issue. We also believe that punishing children for their parent’s circumstances is both unethical and un-American, and we will oppose policy initiatives that seek to blame and punish children for being undocumented, and we will support policies that foster the growth of these children into responsible and productive legal citizens.
