Immigration

The JPIC office continues to follow and support issues of immigration.  This month we supported the Justice for Immigrants Campaign related to immigration reform efforts involving health care.  If you haven’t already, contact your Senator and ask him/her to support Health Care for Legal Immigrants
 
> Background:  On September 16, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), introduced his version of health care reform in the Senate.  The Senate Committee on Finance will likely debate this bill during the week of September 21.  A key issue in the Senate will be whether legal immigrants are included in any health care reform proposal that moves forward.
 
> Take Action:  Your action is needed to ensure that legal and other vulnerable immigrants are treated fairly in health care reform.  Significant grassroots pressure would send a message to Washington that Catholics consider immigrant health care an important priority.  Please CALL your senators today and ask that Congress to treat immigrants fairly in health care reform. If you live in a state (such as Illinois) which does not have a senator on the Senate Finance Committee, you can call the Capital Switchboard at 866-974-8813 (English) or 866-584-3909 (Spanish).

The following two articles of interest related to this issue are truly worth reading.  The first is by our own Sr. Sylvia Wehlisch, who along with Covenant Member Mary Ellen Durbin, attended the Franciscan Action Network Conference on Immigration 2009.  (click here to read Sr. Sylvia’s article)

NCR: Theology in the Age of Migration, go to http://ncronline.org/news/global/theology-age-migration