Every year, hundreds of thousands of families who are trying to follow the rules under our current immigration laws are separated for indefinite periods of time as a result of the severe policies of our present system. If they have lived in the U.S. without documents, the spouses and children of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents face family unity bars that run between three and 10 years.
Your local communities need to hear from people of faith about the need for national immigration reform. While there isn’t much will in Congress to pass anything during an election year, we can start shaping next year’s conversation in our communities right now.
Earlier this year, the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) sent a letter to 48 state governors, proposing a remedy for states’ budget concerns: an offer to “buy” prisons in exchange for a 20-year contract with each state, and an assurance that prisons would remain at least 90 percent full (Huffington Post).
Our current immigration system does not reflect our nation’s best values. We need reform at the national level, but since Congress continues to drag its feet, some states have decided to tackle the problem on their own. Unfortunately, the results have been ill-conceived, financially unsustainable and discriminatory proposals and legislation that do nothing to make our states safer and institutionalize discrimination against entire communities.
