Quakers Welcome Next Steps on Immigration Reform, Call for Humane Enforcement

May 3, 2010

Release: 3 May 2010

The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) appreciates the important work of Senators Reid, Schumer, Menendez, Durbin and Feinstein in introducing the Real Enforcement with Practical Answers for Immigration Reform (REPAIR) Proposal. We look forward to working with Congress and the administration to enact bipartisan legislation that would restore integrity to the U.S. tradition of welcoming immigrants.

The broken immigration system causes hardworking immigrants to live in the shadows, disadvantages law-abiding employers, provides incentives for worker exploitation, and imposes tremendous costs on taxpayers for misguided enforcement policies. We need common-sense solutions that fix the broken immigration system and integrate immigrants as full contributors to our communities and our economy.

The REPAIR proposal includes a number of important positive features. It would protect family unity by clearing the lengthy backlog of family visa applications, augmenting the per country limits, and allowing spouses and children of green card holders to reunite in a timely manner. FCNL welcomes the inclusion of all families in the proposal and encourages discretion on humanitarian grounds for families separated due to entry and re-entry barriers.

This proposal would promote community integration by creating a reasonable and inclusive pathway to legal status and eventual citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the United States.

Recognizing that the United States depends on high- and lower-skilled foreign workers, this proposal would establish a mechanism to issue employment visas according to the legitimate needs of the national economy. Protections are included to address the concern that immigrant workers would displace or otherwise disadvantage native-born workers. By promoting labor protections and creating safeguards for workers seeking to report grievances, this proposal would crack down on unscrupulous employers who lower the pay and working conditions for everyone by pitting immigrant workers against native workers.

FCNL continues its concern on the expansion of border and interior enforcement policies, especially the unwarranted militarization of the U.S./Mexico border. Enforcement policies should support a functional legal immigration system. These policies should minimize detention, incorporate humanitarian values and restore due process. As DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano stated at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on April 27, "[O]ne of the questions I think we need to talk about is whether securing the border is ever going to be reached… in the sense of the Congress, or whether that goalpost is just going to keep moving." Congress should set concrete benchmarks, in consultation with border communities and congruent with the United States' obligations regarding civil and human rights, to determine when reasonable goals for border security have been achieved.

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The Friends Committee on National Legislation (www.fcnl.org), the oldest registered religious lobby in Washington, is a non-partisan Quaker lobby in the public interest. FCNL works with a nationwide network of tens of thousands of people from every state in the United States to advocate for social and economic justice, peace, and good government.