Berkley Center

In the debate over immigration policy, there are 3.1 million defenseless U.S. citizens who are being ignored. They are constantly in danger of government agents sweeping in to take from them most precious thing in their lives. These are the children of undocumented immigrants who have been born in the U.S.A. and are, therefore, citizens. Current immigration policy wants to ship their parents back to their home countries and turn these 3.1 million citizens into orphans.

This is a policy that should outrage conservatives: "Big Government Takes Parents from Children and Makes Them Wards of the State." It is estimated that 73 percent of the children of undocumented immigrants are U.S. citizens. Do these children have no rights? Whatever happened to family values?

The Catholic bishops have insisted that any immigration policy should have as its highest priority uniting and keeping families together. These children, along with those who came to the U.S. as children, are innocent of any crime and yet they are being punished in the most severe fashion.

The Catholic bishops do not support unlawful entry and the violation of U.S. immigration laws. Rather they want to see these people moved into a legal status through a process of "earned legalization." As the bishops' website explains:

"The Bishops' earned legalization proposal provides a window of opportunity for undocumented immigrants who are already living in our communities and contributing to our nation to come forward, pay a fine and application fee, go through rigorous criminal background checks and security screenings, demonstrate that they have paid taxes and are learning English, and obtain a visa that could lead to permanent residency, over time." 

This legalization process is especially needed so that children who are U.S. citizens are not made orphans by our government.