Senate committee’s approval of immigration reform bill encourages local Catholics

WESTERN WASHINGTONBy Armando Machado

Rufina Ramirez received her work permit in January through the federal policy implemented last summer known as DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The policy temporarily shields from deportation undocumented young migrants who arrived in the U.S. as children.

And now that the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has approved an immigration reform bill, voting to send it to the entire Senate for debate, Ramirez hopes her path to permanent residency or citizenship will come sooner than later.

“It's very important that they not separate families,” Ramirez, 20, said in a May 31 telephone interview from her Skagit Valley home. “And it is important that people obtain work permits, so they can go on to get better jobs.”

Living with uncertaintyDACA defers for two years deportation of young adults like Ramirez, who attends Mass at St. Charles Parish in Burlington, giving approved applicants time to work toward a long-term immigration solution.

Born in Oaxaca, Mexico, Ramirez graduated from Burlington-Edison High School in 2011 and is a part-time student at Skagit Valley College. She plans to become a medical or dental assistant.

Since she entered the DACA process, she has been able to work part time at a health clinic helping clients fill out forms.

Like others in the Archdiocese of Seattle living with uncertainty because of their immigration status, she said the proposed immigration reform bill before Congress seems to have more beneficial components for immigrant families than negative ones.

‘Families will be reunited’Marcelino Lopez Martinez, 40, is a parishioner at St. Charles and a Skagit Valley migrant farmworker with a wife and five children.

“We don't earn much money; we need work permits,” Lopez Martinez, who is Mexican-born, said during a volunteer-appreciation gathering at the church on June 1.

“I come here to the church (food bank) and volunteer when I can,” he said, adding that he is grateful to church leaders for urging Congress to pass fairer immigration laws.

Fernando Munoz Ramirez, who came from Mexico with his family when he was 8 years old and plans to apply for the DACA process, said the U.S. bishops' call for comprehensive immigration reform is based on justice and respect for human dignity.

“The people are very much supported by the church,” said Munoz Ramirez, 19, after the June 2 Spanish-language Mass at the Church of the Assumption in Bellingham.

Also attending that Mass in Bellingham were Jose Roberto Palma and Maria Hortencia de Alba Hernandez. Both have worked as volunteers in efforts to help undocumented immigrants understand application procedures related to obtaining legal status.

“This is very important because it is the only way that many people will be able to be legalized,” Palma said. “There are many who have been living in the shadows for too long … And this is important because families will be reunited.”

Palma, who was born in Guatemala and became a U.S. citizen eight years ago, said it was a process that was long, difficult and expensive.

De Alba Hernandez said the bill moving to the U.S. Senate floor has beneficial elements, such as family reunification, but that it also has difficult ones, such as waiting times, especially for migrant farmworkers.

The hope is “that they get something better, and be able to get out of that situation of doing work that is so hard,” she noted, adding concerns about some of the measure’s proposed border-security provisions.

De Alba Hernandez is Mexican-born, and although seeking legal status herself, she has obtained enough information about the immigration process to help educate other undocumented immigrants.

‘A lot of hope’At St. Mary Church in Aberdeen, volunteer Guadalupe Verdejo, 33, said, “We are waiting for the opportunities, so that we can obtain good employment, better wages for our families … We ask the Lord for his help.”

Verdejo was born in Mexico and came to the U.S. when she was 19 years old.

Isabel Cisneros, coordinator of Hispanic ministry at St. Mary's, said she and her volunteers have cautioned immigrant parish members not to seek help from attorneys claiming that an immigration reform law has been passed.

She emphasizes to parishioners that immigration reform legislation is under consideration by Congress, but that no final bill has been approved.

Still, Cisneros said, “There is a lot of hope among the Latino families that this will become a reality.”

Jose Ortiz, who coordinates Hispanic ministry at St. Charles Parish in Burlington, said the immigration reform proposal “will change the lives of people, especially the children.”

“It's going to be a good thing; it's something that should have been done a long time ago,” he said. “We're trying to keep the families together; we hope that they don't have to go to their home countries in order to get their visas; we're very concerned for their safety.”

He also noted that many remain concerned about provisions in the bill that would impose lengthy waiting times to resolve the status of those who entered the country without documents.

“We're still concerned about the waiting times for people to be sponsored or to become citizens,” he said.

Reform principles outlined

BELLEVUEBy Armando Machado

Speakers at two recent presentations urged attendees to write to federal lawmakers and ask them to support comprehensive immigration reform legislation that applies the church’s principle of respect for human dignity to undocumented immigrants.

The presentations were based on a February 2013 background paper from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which says, in part, that any just immigration reform effort should address the root causes of migration and should include: broad-based legalization of the undocumented, including a path to citizenship; a future-worker program with appropriate protections for both U.S. and foreign workers; changes to the family-based immigration system to reduce waiting times for family reunification; restoration of due process for immigrants; and policies which address the root causes of migration, such as economic disparities.

Attendees at the presentations were urged to contact U.S. senators and representatives and ask them to support a comprehensive immigration reform bill consistent with the principles outlined by the U.S. bishops.

The two presentations at St. Louise de Marillac Church in Bellevue — one on May 21 in English and a May 28 gathering in Spanish — were hosted by the Archdiocese of Seattle’s Office of Catholic Faith Formation.

Speakers included Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio Elizondo; Jim Thomas, archdiocesan director for Catholic social teaching and family life; Patty Repikoff, coordinator of Eastside Catholic Hispanic Ministry; Esther Lucero-Miner, pastoral associate at St. Louise; and Margaret O'Donnell, a Seattle immigration attorney.

“We just celebrated Pentecost last Sunday,” Bishop Elizondo said, referring to the “universal tongue of love.” He added, “We are brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. … We don't want to break the law, we want to change the law.”

June 13, 2013