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Kesolution on

Immigration

Reform

November 14, 1985

National Conference of Catholic Bishops

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The following Resolution on Immigration Reform was

passed unanimously by the general membership of the

National Conference ofCatholic Bishops during its plenary

assembly on November 14, 1985, and is authorized for

publication by the undersigned.

Monsignor Daniel F. Hoye

General Secretary

January 10, 1986 NCCB/USCC

For many reasons, the Catholic Church has

a strong interest in immigration and immigra-

tion-related legislation. We now express our
specific concern for legislative proposals per-

taining to undocumented immigration and for-

eign agricultural workers.

Although the Catholic bishops share the con-

cerns of many other persons on these matters,

we believe that the approaches now being most

actively pursued are neither workable nor

morally acceptable. In particular, we hold that

any viable program of immigration reform must

be based on legalization as its foundation, rather

than as an ancillary and conditional compo-

nent. An acceptable program must, therefore,

include the following elements:

• legalization opportunities for the maxi-

mum number of undocumented aliens;
• an extensive, aggressive outreach effort

to eligible aliens;

• application deadlines and requirements for

qualification that are both generous in re-

spect to the number of aliens included and

realistic in terms of the time-frame for ap-

plication;

• no administrative arbitrariness in deter-

mining who shall be excluded;

• the provision of adequate appellate re-

course for those disqualified by the Im-

migration and Naturalization Service;



• active participation in planning by repre-

sentative ethnic groups and by responsible

community and denominational migration

agencies;

• screening of applications by responsible

agencies before submission to the INS in

order to ensure eligibility; and

• provision to the newly legalized of the same

protections and benefits available to all

resident aliens.

Only when legalization is treated as the cen-

terpiece of immigration reform is it conceiv-

able that the bishops will judge employer sanc-

tions tolerable. Until that time, we shall oppose

employer sanctions. This means that we shall

consider accepting sanctions only if they

• are part of a generous and fair legalization

program that will benefit most undocu-

mented persons now in the country;

• are accompanied by stringent antidiscri-

mination legislation;

• call for the development of a secure and

uniform national employment identifica-

tion system (e.g.
,
a tamper-proof social se-

curity card) required of all applicants for

employment; and

• offer substantive reassurances that en-

forcement will not fall disproportionately

on employers employing Hispanics and

Orientals and on employers in areas with

high concentrations of foreign-born and

other minority persons.

As for foreign temporary agricultural worker

programs, the Catholic bishops cannot accept

any large-scale new program, nor can we ac-

cept “reforms” of existing programs whose net

effect would be the erosion of protections of-

fered U.S. farm workers and the deterioration

of wages, as well as living and working con-

ditions, for all farm workers.

In conclusion, we submit that this might be

a useful time for Congress and the nation to



pause and reevaluate the model on which cur-

rent proposals for immigration reform are based

and separate the legalization/sanctions re-

forms from the issue of temporary agricultural

workers. The Catholic bishops in the United

States are committed to help fashion legisla-

tion that will truly,reflect the American com-

mitment to social and economic justice for all.

Copyright © 1986
United States Catholic Conference, Inc.

1312 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20005-4105

All rights reserved.

Publication No. 984

Publishing and Promotion Services

United States Catholic Conference

1312 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20005-4105