Immigration and Human Trafficking

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reported that more than 500 U.S. military service members took the Oath of Allegiance to become U.S. citizens this passed July 4th.  Meanwhile, the administration of Barack Obama is taking action to increase policing of employers who hire illegal workers.  The administration reported that its investigations recently targeted more than 600 businesses.  In fact, the New York Times reported that 650 businesses were notified on just one day of pending audits, up from 503 audits for the entire last year of the Bush administration. The enhanced enforcement is part of President Obama's policy of emphasizing border enforcement and employer compliance rather than stepping up action against individual illegal immigrant workers.

Urge Congress to Fix our Broken Immigration System, Continuing advocacy to encourage Congress to resolve the immigration issue in a fair and just manner. For more resources on immigration visit http://www.wheatonfranciscan-jpic.org/currentactionalerts.html

CRS ALERT – Human Trafficking Continues In Europe; Buying and Selling People - Traffickers see an inexhaustible commodity in other human beings, one that they can exploit over and over again. Trafficking does not just involve women being forced into prostitution. It can also involve children being forced to beg and adults being forced to work long hours under appalling conditions without pay.  In Eastern Europe, CRS works to stop trafficking before it starts. We alert vulnerable groups to the trafficking dangers and provide opportunities for women who have few career options. CRS and our local partners hold sessions at schools to teach students to watch out for suspicious people and job offers. Traffickers sometimes place phony employment ads in newspapers. A CRS program placed warning ads in the same papers traffickers use, and ran public service announcements on radio stations.

CRS deserves our continued support. The Franciscan Federation Action Resolution on Immigration and Creation; networking in mutual love also calls its members to advocate against trafficking.