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Advocacy Update
April 2006
LIRS Calls on Friends and Supporters to Advocate on Two Fronts
By Bernadette Passade Cissé, LIRS Vice President for Policy and Advocacy
Two current issues may change our political and cultural climate for the worse if they are not resolved in a manner consistent with our faith and views on social justice.
The first issue is comprehensive immigration reform. Congress is considering various proposed legislation that purport to reform the U.S. immigration system. But with the exception of the McCain/Kennedy bill, these proposals actually criminalize many who come to this country for family, work and freedom, and criminalize those whose faith and values mandate that they serve migrants.
The second issue is the interpretation of material support for terrorism. The Departments of Homeland Security and Justice are applying a law meant to protect us from terrorism in such a way that refugees and asylum seekers fleeing terrorism are denied protection in our country or are prevented from becoming permanent residents or citizens of the United States. These refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants are being unjustly accused of providing material support—money or supplies—to terrorist organizations. In many cases this so-called support was violently coerced. In other cases, incidental support was given to organizations opposing dictatorships the U.S. recognizes as violators of human rights.
LIRS wants our country and the populations we serve to benefit from meaningful comprehensive immigration reform and from legitimate anti-terrorism measures. But harsh laws and false and unjust accusations of terrorism harm vulnerable people and betray America’s tradition of welcoming those who are truly in need. If enforcement-only immigration reform legislation is passed in this Congress, and if our government continues to deny protection to refugees and asylum seekers because of an overly broad interpretation of material support, LIRS will need to redouble its efforts to fight for just policies and laws that reflect our hopes and not our fears.
We need you, our friends and supporters, to join us in speaking out for justice. Will you fight with us to make America more welcoming to refugees and migrants? LIRS and the people we serve will have prevailed if together we succeed in at least not making their situation more precarious. But ultimately we want policies established and laws passed that make it easier for refugees and migrants who share our values to integrate into our communities with their families.
The LIRS website currently features a wealth of information on these two issues:
We hope these documents will inform you and inspire you to speak up for vulnerable migrants. We ask that you focus your advocacy on the issue of immigration reform on the Senate, and that you focus your advocacy on the issue of material support on the House of Representatives and the White House.
Thank you for considering our call to advocacy!
Read past Advocacy/Washington Updates.
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