INTERFAITH STATEMENT ON THE RECENT PASSAGE OF IMMIGRATION LEGISLATION IN ARIZONA
As leaders of different faith communities in the Houston area, we join our voices today to express our common concerns over the recent passage of SB 1070 in Arizona. Signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer, this legislation is aimed at identifying, prosecuting and deporting undocumented immigrants.
We understand that this law, and the many similar proposals being drafted in states throughout the nation including our own state of Texas, is born from the growing frustration with our federal government's unwillingness to address the issue of immigration policy reform in a systematic and meaningful way.
Further, we appreciate the need expressed by many supporters of this law for border security, along with their desire to reduce crime throughout their state. We too wish for secure borders, safe neighborhoods and streets cleared of criminals.
However, it is the method taken in Arizona to meet these goals over which we are gravely concerned. This law provides broad and vaguely defined powers to local law enforcement officials to detain and arrest individuals. Further, it does so based upon what is in our judgment and that of many of our fellow faith leaders in Arizona a very low legal standard.
Let us be clear. We know the overwhelming number of people in law enforcement are decent, hardworking men and women who want to serve and protect. But by leaving it to the discretion of individual law enforcement officials as to whether crime victims and witnesses will be turned over on immigration charges opens the proverbial door to racial profiling and violations of basic human rights. We are fearful of uneven, patchwork, enforcement of such laws.
In addition, the mandating of police officers to enforce immigration laws is a serious concern. With law enforcement resources already stretched in most jurisdictions, this requirement threatens to pull valuable personnel from their regular line of duty, thereby putting communities further at risk through reduced police protection.
Further, there is the risk of erosion in trust among immigrant and minority communities, with people fearful of coming forward to report crimes. Families will be separated, children will be put at risk, and an entire population of people already vulnerable will be made even more so by being pushed further into the shadows.
As we have seen in the news accounts, this law and similar proposals have added rancor and fear to an already acrimonious debate. We ask for civility and calm among all involved in this issue. We believe it is only in a reasoned, compassionate climate can true solutions be achieved that meet the concerns of all parties.
This law attempts to breach a gap left by the failure of our federal government to act on its responsibilities to protect our borders, provide an immigration policy that is fair and humane and that meets the needs of our communities. We fear that unless the federal government steps up and does its duty, actions such as that taken in Arizona will spread throughout the land, resulting in an even more broken immigration policy.
As faith leaders, many of us work daily with--and minister to--immigrants from all over the world. We know them to be hardworking, decent people who come to our land seeking only an opportunity to make life better for themselves and their families. They worship with us on weekends, and then during the week they go forth to build homes, mow lawns; they change sheets in hotels and cook food in restaurants. In short, they provide goods and services and earn a living.
But more importantly for us, as people of faith, we see in the faces and hear in the voices of the immigrants in our midst, the image of God. The dignity inherent in us all is clouded, diminished, every time one of God's own suffers from poverty and want, from oppression of any kind. We pray for, and commit to continue to act toward, a comprehensive immigration policy that protects families, provides an avenue for the undocumented to come out of the shadows, that punishes those who exploit the immigrant and that, yes, secures our borders from those who would do us harm.
Even though we come from many and varied faith communities we are united in our belief that this great nation is big enough, generous enough, and good enough to welcome the stranger to our shores-those who come here for a better life.
Daniel Cardinal DiNardo
Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
Bishop Janice Riggle Huie
Bishop, Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church
The Rt. Rev. C. Bishop Andrew Doyle
Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Texas
Bishop Michael Rinehart
Bishop, Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, ELCA
Rev. Manuel La Rosa-Lopez
Pastor, St. John Fisher Catholic Church
Co-Chair, The Metropolitan Organization
Rabbi David Lyon
Senior Rabbi Congregation Beth Israel
Leader, The Metropolitan Organization
Rev. Michael Cole
General Presbyter,
Presbytery of New Covenant Presbyterian Church (USA)
Rev. John Bowie
Pastor, True Light Missionary Baptist Church
Co-Chair, The Metropolitan Organization
Rev. John D. Ogletree
Pastor, First Metropolitan Church
Leader, The Metropolitan Organization
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