Thread: CA: Inland Republicans reject amnesty for illegal immigrants

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Inland Republicans reject amnesty for illegal immigrants


10:00 PM PST on Sunday, February 18, 2007

By SHARON McNARY
The Press-Enterprise

An immigration lawyer joked recently as he quizzed Riverside Catholics on the visas they used to enter the United States.

Was it a tourist visa? Some raised their hands. A student visa? A few more hands rose. "Was it Visa C? As in Coyote?" he laughed.

More than half of the 170 people who packed the parish hall at Our Queen of Angels Catholic Church to hear about the church's stance on immigration policy raised their hands.

Even though many at the meeting are not entitled to vote, 120 of them wrote letters to Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, on Monday night asking him to support changes in federal immigration laws, said Miriam Padilla, an organizer with Inland Congregations United for Change.

The letters, most of them in Spanish, jammed the fax machine in Calvert's Washington, D.C., office Tuesday. The effort was timed to coincide with a meeting of Calvert's staff and members of the Diocese of San Bernardino's Office of Social Concerns to explain the church's stance on immigration laws. It was expected to be the first of many such meetings.

As congressional leaders in both parties say the time is ripe to overhaul immigration laws, Calvert is among Inland Republican representatives who say they will not support a bill that grants automatic amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Both Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, who is part of the new House majority, and the Hispanic caucus he heads, support a rewrite.

Baca, the Inland area's lone Democratic congressman, wants increased immigration enforcement at borders and in workplaces as well as a plan to legalize many illegal immigrants, a three-part overhaul that supporters call comprehensive reform.

"The real question is whether congressional Republicans, including my colleagues in the Inland delegation, are willing to support a comprehensive approach instead of legislation that only aims at enforcement and punishment," he said in a written statement.

He declined to be interviewed.

But Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, said a broad legalization would be unacceptable to residents of his district, which includes Temecula and Murrieta.

"Democrats are asking for new immigrants, en masse, to be allowed to disproportionately come from Mexico and be citizens," he said.

Rep. Mary Bono, R-Palm Springs, the target of numerous demonstrations last year protesting her support of an enforcement-oriented immigration bill, said she receives hundreds of letters opposing amnesty each week.

Bono said she supports a "robust guest-worker program" that would permit people who are in the country illegally to receive work permits but not automatic permanent residency or citizenship. It would be impractical to require illegal immigrants to leave the country to get the permits, she said.

"The reality is that they are here, parts of our economy depend on them, and if we don't make this system easy to use," it will fail, she said.

Like President Bush, Senate leaders are intent on passing a comprehensive immigration bill this year.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have said immigration reform is a priority.

The immigration-overhaul effort gridlocked Congress in 2006 because a majority of senators who favored comprehensive reform clashed with members of the Republican-dominated House who wanted workplace and border enforcement first.

The Inland area's Republican representatives generally favor increased enforcement and border security and oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants. The 1986 federal amnesty granted 2.7 million people legal status.

All of the Inland Republicans supported a proposed 2005 bill that would have made it a crime to be an illegal immigrant or to help one. Opposition to the bill, known as HR 4437, provoked more than 1 million people to join marches and street demonstrations last spring.

Calvert said a comprehensive immigration bill could pass this year if it includes enough immigration law enforcement in the country's interior to satisfy the estimated 20 to 30 Republicans whose votes are needed to pass such a bill.

"Then you're going to have guys like me who are going to try to stop it if it has provisions that I believe people in my district don't support," Calvert said.

He does not support granting illegal immigrants legal status ahead of those who entered the country legally. Calvert also wants undocumented residents to return to their countries of origin to gain guest-worker or other legal status.

Issa opposes amnesty for all illegal immigrants and a guest-worker or visa program that automatically leads to permanent residency or citizenship.

"I believe in guest workers and in immigration, and I believe the two are separate," Issa said.

He said he would support a guest-worker program from which participants might apply for permanent residency as they do now in other visa programs for foreign technical and agricultural workers.

Democrats' new control of Congress does not guarantee passage of an immigration-law overhaul that legalizes undocumented immigrants, said John Keeley, communications director for the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports greater enforcement.

Many Democrats who displaced Republicans in the House are more conservative on immigration issues and ran campaigns promising more enforcement, not legalization, Keeley said.

"The president and the Democrats don't have the numbers there," he said.

Instead, Congress is more likely to pass piecemeal measures, like the DREAM Act, which gives children of illegal immigrants access to in-state college tuition, and AgJOBS, a new visa program for agricultural workers, Keeley said.

The new Democratic majority, having won Latino votes in 2006 that went to Republicans two years earlier, cannot afford to lose that support in 2008 by failing to pass an immigration-overhaul bill, said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, which supports a comprehensive bill.

Republicans who were previously in the majority observed strict party discipline by supporting the enforcement-oriented HR 4437 in late 2005. Now they will have more latitude to support a comprehensive bill, she said.

"They've got constituencies who have large businesses without sufficient labor who have a lot of illegal employees in agriculture and industry," Kelley said.

Alicia Segura, 43, a legal immigrant from Mexico who lives in Riverside, hopes Calvert takes her letter to heart because, "I have friends and family here who need a change in the law."

Reach Sharon McNary at 951-368-9458 or smcnary@PE.com

Illegal immigrants

United States: 11.1 million

California: 2.5 million to 2.7 million

Inland: 215,000 in Riverside and San Bernardino counties

SOURCE: Pew Hispanic Center estimates based on 2005 Current Population Survey of the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Census.

Inland Catholic bishop walks fine line in immigration role



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10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, March 22, 2007

By SHARON McNARY
The Press-Enterprise

Bishop Gerald R. Barnes says the 1.2 million Inland Catholics he leads are as divided as the nation itself on the question of giving legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants.

As point man for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bis5hops' national Justice for Immigrants campaign, he urges broad legalization. Yet, he is criticized from both sides of the immigration debate within his own diocese.

Local Catholics flooded his fax machine with threats to withdraw financial support and leave the church after he celebrated a Mass in January in honor of immigrants, Barnes said.

Others who agree with him complain he has not been visible or vocal enough locally. At times, Barnes finds himself caught in the middle.

"I don't want to apologize for what I've said, because I believe what I've said," Barnes said in a recent interview at the Diocesan Pastoral Center, the diocese's headquarters in San Bernardino.

"I want to make it understood that the Catholic Church is for the reformation of immigration laws so that we do not have illegal immigration."

Story continues below

Carrie Rosema / The Press-Enterprise
"What we cannot compromise as teachers -- and the bishops are the teachers of the church -- is the Gospel," says Bishop Gerald R. Barnes, immigration advocate for the nation's Catholic bishops.
Barnes must advocate for his beliefs nationally, yet avoid alienating the people he relies on to support the church locally, said Ivan Strenski, professor of religious studies at UC Riverside.

"He's dancing on the thin edge of a knife," Strenski said. "He has a lot of things he wants to say, and he cannot go too far out of line or people will not listen, just as people don't listen on birth control."

Barnes, a Mexican-American who grew up in East Los Angeles, estimated that about half the Catholics in the two-county Inland diocese disagree with him. The divisions cross racial and ethnic lines.

"It might seem strange, but there are some people who are descendants of immigrants, immediate descendants of immigrants, some Latinos themselves, who don't understand or don't support the church's position," Barnes said.

Barnes could be talking about Michael Jimenez, 36, of Corona, a Catholic and father of two young girls.

Jimenez's mother was honored for her Catholic volunteerism, and his grandfather was an illegal immigrant from Mexico in 1913, who insisted his children speak English in public and take sandwiches, not tortillas, to school for lunch.

But Jimenez quit practicing his faith, largely because of Barnes' stance on illegal immigration.

He sees the church depending on undocumented Latin American immigrants for growth, and he objects to church leaders lobbying the government.

"I have not yet baptized my daughter, who is 1 year old," he said. His older daughter, now 3, was baptized when she was 6 months old.

To Barnes he would say, "Quit being such a politician. It's not your place to do that."

Barnes said, "Non-Latinos, especially of European background, people who feel taken over by a certain culture," also disagree with the church.

The bishop takes a long-term view of the controversy.

The church has weathered centuries of criticism from Catholics who don't agree with its teachings on such issues as nuclear disarmament, opposition to the death penalty, birth control and abortion.

"What we cannot compromise as teachers -- and the bishops are the teachers of the church -- is the Gospel," Barnes said.

Leadership Strategy

Inland immigration-rights activists generally praise Barnes, especially for his leadership over the past two years. But they want more direct support, involvement and visibility from him.

"I think the bishop could certainly influence it by appearing and actually heading community meetings with the parishioners and talking about the issue," said Jesse del Rio, co-chairman of the diocese's political-advocacy committee.

When Barnes took over the national campaign in 2005, he delegated the local lead on immigration issues to his auxiliary bishop and the Office of Social Concerns.

He has written immigration-policy letters for priests to read from the pulpit, celebrated a Mass honoring immigrants, and has met with groups of Catholics.

The diocese leads immigrants in a letter-writing campaign to members of Congress, and some will fast for immigration reforms beginning March 26.

But his first large-scale public dialogue on illegal immigration was March 16 before 150 people at the Pastoral Center.

"The Catholic Church is not in favor of illegal immigration," Barnes told the crowd. However, it recognizes the right of people to emigrate from countries that cannot meet their basic needs, he said.

Millions of people are here illegally because the laws are unworkable and should be changed, Barnes said. A few speakers directed pointed, pro-migrant questions at the bishop, asking for more housing and other help for the poorest immigrants, however none challenged his views.

Maria Anna Gonzales, of the National Alliance for Human Rights, said she wished Barnes had not endorsed a compromise immigration bill last year that, if passed, would have legalized about half of the nation's illegal immigrants.

The rest, including the most recent arrivals and nonworking family members, might have been required to return to their home countries or remain underground, Gonzales said.

"How can you say you are the leader of the church that professes to practice the teachings of Christ but you're willing to leave some people out?" she asked.

Barnes said the bishops endorsed the compromise because it was the best bill available at the time.

Barnes could do more to intercede with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to reduce the number of apparently random arrests, said Mario Lazcano, of the Comite Latino of the Coachella Valley, an immigration-rights group.

Barnes said the church will not interfere with ICE actions nor does he expect the campaign to get involved in a new movement by a few Catholics and others to provide sanctuary to illegal immigrants trying to evade deportation.

Playing National Role

As a national church leader, Barnes has testified before Congress and said he will work for the passage of new immigration laws proposed this year.

Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-San Diego, a Catholic who leads the anti-amnesty, pro-enforcement Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, said Barnes and the church had little influence on the debate in Congress.

He called the bishop's views "well-intentioned but dangerous," because talk of legalization entices would-be immigrants to come into the United States illegally.

"People talking about this, including the bishop, are responsible for people dying on the freeway, drowning in the rivers, and dying in the desert," said Bilbray.

Barnes rejects criticism that he or the church advocate lawbreaking.

"I want to make it understood that the Catholic Church is for the reformation of the immigration laws so that we do not have illegal immigration," Barnes said. "We are not encouraging people in any way to break the law. We want to change the law."

Reach Sharon McNary at 951-368-9458 or smcnary@PE.com