5-24-06, 9:11 am
A statement by the Fellowship of ReconciliationDraconian congressional legislation -- introduced in December by Rep. George Sensenbrenner (R-WI) through HR-4437 -- has ignited this nationwide mobilization of immigrants and their allies. We are appalled by HR-4437, which proposes turning the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States into felons.
This 'solution' fails to take into account the common humanity and dignity of all who aspire to a better life. Enforcement-only policies are not the answer, in a nation founded and sustained by immigrants. Comprehensive and humane immigration reform demands much more.
As an international community with chapters in more than 40 countries, FOR is also acutely aware of the deleterious effects of free trade, an economic policy championed by the U.S. government.
Free trade agreements have forced people from the global South to migrate to this country, and unless we reform our economic agenda, attempts to 'seal our borders' will be meaningless. In fact, since the mid-1990s, attempts to close the Mexican border have not dissuaded migrants; they merely make crossing the border more dangerous. What once were seasonal migration patterns -- with a 50% return rate to country of origin – have become permanent, with workers opting to stay in the United States and avoid deadly border crossings.
FOR opposes the militarization of the border and advocates deeper, more thoughtful attention to this matter. Any reform legislation that addresses border security should also emphasize increasing the quotas for legal immigration, reducing the long backlogs for family visas, and erasing workplace exploitation of undocumented workers.
Immigration reform should recognize that the 11 million undocumented immigrants are vital to our economy. Policymakers should also thoroughly examine the foreign policy that has helped to create such disparate neighboring economies, such as the Free Trade of the Americas Agreement, an accord that promises to repeat the failures of NAFTA and CAFTA.
As an organization committed to active nonviolence as a transforming way of life and as a means of radical change, FOR applauds this inspiring mass movement, and we urge legislators to pay heed to its urgent call for comprehensive immigration reform.
We are encouraged by efforts on the part of some U.S. senators to find a compromise that would create a safe and orderly immigration process. However, President Bush's plan to deploy 6,000 National Guard troops to the border, coupled with the Senate's provisional vote approving additional barricades along the Mexican border, is disconcerting.
We hope that as the immigration debate continues, the voices that have arisen in recent months will be heard, and that the debate will lead to true, comprehensive reform.
Contact: Amanda Jack 415-495-6334,
