Pastoral Letter from the House of Bishops on Immigration

Today I finally had a moment to read the Pastoral Letter from The Episcopal Church House of Bishops on immigration (Link). I am delighted to see a distinct move to the political center. While I have always agreed with our leadership in their defense of immigrants’ fundamental Human Rights. I have also been critical of the tendency to ignore the legitimate fears of border county residence. We must live daily with the threat posed by the growing reality of drug smuggling and other "professional criminal" enterprises. They make a few points that I would like to quote:

(3) We call on the government of the United States and all governments to create fair and humane immigration policies that honor the dignity of people on all sides of this issue. In the United States, we seek a reasonable path to citizenship for undocumented workers; a plan to reunite families; and a viable system for receiving temporary or seasonal guest-workers, with clearly identified points of entry. These measures would free the United States border patrol to concentrate its efforts on the apprehension of drug traffickers, terrorists, and other criminals, and not on ordinary people who are simply seeking a better life for themselves and their children.

(4) We acknowledge the duty of governments to protect their people, including the securing of borders. The church has always respected this duty, which is grounded in government's God given duty to protect innocent people and punish wrongdoers (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17).

Please note in the highlighted portions, they support government’s responsibility to protect its citizens from crime and that drug trafficking and terrorist entry to our country is recognized as a real issue. Also, let me give one illustration to the "other criminals" mentioned. In Cochise County the Border Patrol has apprehended numerous "known sex offenders" seeking to reenter the Country.

This is the first time I have seen our leadership recognize these issues and want to laud and praise them right now: THANK YOU FOR THE GOOD JOB!

Finally, if you have read my first post on these issues you may recognize that I am in full agreement with the establishment of accessible worker visas and related programs. These kinds of programs not only respond positively to those immigrants who simply seek opportunity, it also responds to the obvious needs of the many industries that employ these immigrants. Further, as our bishops noted, it frees law enforcement resources to focus on the more dangerous criminals crisscrossing our border with Mexico.