NEW YORK (ABP) — Shortly before the immigration-reform bill failed a crucial test vote June 7, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) religious leaders decried an aspect of the complex compromise proposal they view as anti-family.
The Senate rejected a Clinton-sponsored amendment that would have removed the offending provision. President Bush has supported the bill, but groups from the right and left have criticized it.
Clinton and the leaders joined reporters on a conference call to denounce the provision on family visas. The other speakers included Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners/Call to Renewal; Derrick Harkins, pastor of Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington; and Simone Campbell, executive director of Network, a Catholic social justice lobby.
Each leader decried the Senate's failure to pass the family-reunification amendment to the bill. They also called for other Christian groups that describe themselves as “pro-family” to push for immigration-reform privileges that keep immigrant families together.
The amendment would have lessened obstacles for reunification of families of lawful permanent residents by reclassifying the spouses and minor children of those immigrants as “immediate relatives,” thereby exempting them from visa caps.
Wait time to obtain a visa, in a process stagnated by backlogs, averages between five and 10 years. More than one million spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents have applied for such visas. Clinton said her amendment, created along with Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), would streamline the visa process and allow families to reunite more quickly.
In her remarks, Clinton said the compromise bill “fails to help families and children stuck in bureaucratic quagmire” and treats “tax-paying, law-abiding legal immigrants” as though their children don't matter.
The United States has traditionally placed a premium on policies that protect families, Clinton said. “This bill does not reflect that. This bill not only fails to protect them, it makes matters worse.”
Wallis was more forceful. He called on Focus on the Family's James Dobson and the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins to join with him in speaking out against the bill.
“I think this is a perfect opportunity for them to enter this debate on behalf of [the] family. I think doing it right here, right now would send a very powerful message … to protect mothers and fathers and children, husbands and wives,” Wallis said. “We're talking about protection of marriage here. These are their bread-and-butter issues. Let's show the same concern for immigrant families as we show for white, middle-class families.”
A coalition of faith-based groups from “across the spectrum” would present a force members of Congress would be “hard pressed” to oppose, he added.
Harkins, the Washington pastor, also had a message for conservative opponents of immigration reform: stop using the term “amnesty.” He said groups that claim supporting family values is their goal should have supported the amendment.
“I feel it is also at the very least intellectually dishonest … to espouse [family values] and then to allow for this kind of damage to the family structure,” he said, adding that family structure is integral to society. “The family must be at the core of any immigration reform.”
The bottom line is that the Bible mandates care of the family — this is “a gospel issue,” Wallis said. “Welcoming a stranger is for us not a policy option … Jesus tells us to do this.”
The proposed immigration bill would tighten border security, create systems to prevent the hiring of illegal workers and allow illegal immigrants to start the process toward becoming legal citizens.
The June 7 tally of 33-63 fell short of the 60 votes needed to limit debate on the immigration measure and push it toward passage. Republicans, in general, opposed the bill, while a majority of Democrats backed it.
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he would give the bill more time before dropping it to move forward with other matters.
It is known as the “Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007,” S. 1348.
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Read more:
Evangelicals, other Christians unite to push immigration reform (5/9/2007)
Immigration ethics: Any reform better than nothing, some say (5/2/2007)
Day after apparent compromise, immigration reform takes hit (4/7/2007)