http://www.sentinel.org/articles/2006-20/14703.html


Immigration reform effort called success
05/17/2006
The Catholic effort in Oregon for immigration reform is being called “a big success,” by the Archdiocese of Portland official who organized it.

“I am pleased to report that the huge effort to advocate for comprehensive immigration reform legislation has paid off,” reports David Carrier, director of the archdiocese’s Office of Justice and Peace.

After a prime-time speech by President Bush, the Senate is expected to take up legislation that could create a guest-worker program, a way to earn citizenship and possibly allow families to reunite, some of the elements the U.S. Catholic bishops have advocated.

With the help of volunteers from Catholic Charities and the formation group called JustFaith, seminars and a letter-writing campaign held after Masses in western Oregon created more than 5,700 letters in support of bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform on the federal level.

The letters, which opposed enforcement-only measures like one passed in the U.S. House last year, were hand-delivered to the local offices of the Oregon congressional delegation.

Parishioners took many letters home and sent them in later.

Representatives from Catholic Charities, Oregon Catholic Conference, St. Vincent de Paul, Network Catholic Lobby, and the Archdiocese of Portland then made several visits to the offices of Senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden and Representatives David Wu and Earl Blumenauer.

“In each case we were told our letters made a big impact,” Carrier said in an email to supporters.

Staff for lawmakers who already backed comprehensive reform said the letters bolstered their position.

On the last of four visits to Senator Gordon Smith’s office, his staff said he intends to support comprehensive reforms that the U.S. bishops, Archbishop John Vlazny, and many Oregon Catholics have called for.

“We will hold them to this promise when the legislation is debated again on Capitol Hill,” Carrier says.

Meanwhile, the U.S. bishops are wary of President Bush’s reported proposal to send National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexican border and are calling for reform of U.S. immigration laws.

“Over the past ten to twelve years, our nation has spent billions of dollars on border enforcement and has tripled the number of Border Patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico border,” migratuion committee head Bishop Gerald Barnes said just before Bush’s Oval Office speech. of San Bernardino, California, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Migration. “Yet, our nation’s immigration system, including its legal channels for entering the country, remain woefully antiquated and ill-suited to address today’s migration phenomenon.”