In This Issue
- Migration
- Columban Response: Migrant Rights Centre Island
- ACTION ALERT: Oppose the PORTS Act
- Putting Our Resources Towards Security (PORTS) Act Letter Template
Resource Links
Contact Us
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www.columban.org
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301-565-4547 |
 It is my pleasure to introduce you to Lauren Fukuda,
one of two interns in the JPIC office this summer, to learn first-hand the
advocacy process in a faith-based context.
Lauren will be starting her third year at Creighton University in Omaha,
NE, home of Columban missionaries in the United States.
Lauren brings a wealth of service experience and an
academic program dedicated to Justice and Peace. I believe the mission of Columban JPIC will
be enriched by her presence. Please join
me in wishing her the best as she embarks on this experience of “challenging
structures, changing lives.”
Please feel free to contact Lauren via email at
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with
any words of encouragement, advice, or welcome!
She would love to hear from you!
In peace,
Amy Woolam Echeverria
Greetings, friends! I am both excited and
blessed for the opportunity to contribute to this month’s newsletter on
migration.
As one who has made a migration of sorts from my
home in Honolulu, Hawaii
to my current location in Washington, DC, and whose ancestors emigrated from Japan and Korea, the issue of migration holds
a special place in my heart. My place in
society was made possible because of my migrant ancestors, and I, along with
millions of others, reap the daily benefits of immigration. Therefore, I often am saddened by the
policies and negative attitudes towards immigrants in the United States.
When the issue of immigration is discussed, it
is often in the context of what is being done to further prevent the flow of
immigrants into the country. From border
fences to an increase in state and federal legislation, it seems as if our
country is desperate to keep people out.
When I attended a congressional hearing of the
House Committee on Homeland Security on May 22, listening to several
Representatives present anti-immigration legislation, I wondered “Where would any of us be if it weren’t for
immigration?”
Throughout history, America has been molded,
influenced, and constructed by millions of immigrants and their
descendants. With technological
inventions, athletic accomplishments, scientific breakthroughs and cultural
achievements, immigrants have contributed to every aspect of our lives. American culture is not monotone and flat;
rather, it is a vibrant and ever-changing patchwork of different ethnic
traditions.
In the Bible,
Jesus says that we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. I often think about what our world would be
like if we truly took this to heart.
Rather than building fences to keep people out, perhaps we would use our
resources to feed and clothe those who come to us in need. Rather than
scrutinize and investigate a person’s “status,” perhaps we would use that
energy to love them as we love ourselves and to embrace them as children of
God.
In solidarity,
Lauren Fukuda
The Issue: Migration
“Our common faith in Jesus Christ moves us to search for
ways that favor a spirit of solidarity. It is a faith that transcends borders
and bids us to overcome all forms of discrimination and violence so that we may
build relationships that are just and loving.” -- Joint U.S. Mexican Pastoral Letter on
Migration, Strangers No Longer: Together
on the Journey of Hope.
In an increasingly globalized world, it is not
only goods and ideas that cross borders, but also people, in search of jobs,
safety, opportunity, and sometimes just survival. Many people are finding it
ever more difficult to maintain a dignified life for themselves and their
families in their home countries or communities and are forced to migrate. As conflicts
spread, ecosystems are destroyed, agrarian economies collapse and land is
turned over to huge corporations for natural resource exploitation, people who
are unable to sustain themselves are home are pushed to urban areas and across
borders.
While migrant workers are some of the most
exploited in the world, their labor provides the backbone of many economies.
Institutions like the World Trade Organization and trade agreements that seek
to commodify migrant labor, recognizing only the economic potential, dehumanize
migrant workers, robbing them of their fundamental human dignity. Guest worker
programs too often feed into this cycle of abuse and exploitation, leaving migrant
workers at the mercy of traffickers and employers. Contract violations,
physical and verbal abuse, including the sexual abuse of women, and xenophobia
and discrimination, both at work and in society at large, are not atypical of
the migrant experience.
Increasing militarization
of the southwest border region and the criminalization of migrants along with those who seek to provide them with humanitarian aid,
will do little to address the problem. We believe
that any just immigration reform proposal must address the root causes of
migration, including poverty, environmental degradation, and conflict, while at
the same time recognizing the positive social, cultural and economic
contributions of migrants to our society. It should include an opportunity for
hard-working immigrants already in the country to regularize their
status, an avenue to citizenship for those that
desire it, provisions for family reunification and the creation of a safe and
dignified manner for future migrants to enter and work in the country legally.
Catholic Social Teaching affirms the right to
migrate, as well as the right not to be forced to migrate. On one hand we are
called to welcome migrants into our communities and parishes, and on the other
hand to address the root causes of migration, including economic and
environmental injustice, armed conflicts and religious or political
persecution. The basic human dignity and rights of migrants must be respected
regardless of what country they may come from or what documentation they may or
may not possess.
Reflection Questions:
- Think about your own heritage. What role has
migration (recent or long past, internal or international, forced or chosen)
played in your family story?
- How has migration affected your community? What
positive contributions have migrants made to your parish and community?
- Where are migrants to your community arriving
from? What are the reasons or conditions that caused them to migrate?
- How are migrants treated by your community? What
are the most significant hurdles that migrants face living in your community?
- What do your candidates advocate in terms of
immigration reform? Is their proposal just?
Columban Response: Migrant Rights Centre Ireland
By: Michael O'Sullivan
For many years, indeed centuries, any talk of
migration in an Irish context meant only one thing: millions of Irish people
were forced by economic circumstances to leave Ireland and find work elsewhere. It
therefore came as something of a shock when, in the late 1990’s, the migration
flow started to reverse. At first, the cause of such a change was not clearly
identified, as it coincided with a sharp rise in the number of applications for
asylum. Much of the public debate at the time focused on asylum and
refugees. Although there were many
problems in this area, there were civil society organizations engaging the
government on the issue.
Meanwhile, more or less unnoticed, the amount of
migrant workers arriving in the country was beginning to vastly outnumber those
who were seeking asylum. One of the first people to draw attention to this
issue, and to the fact that these migrants were in need of different support
structures, was Columban, Fr. Bobby Gilmore. Fr. Bobby had worked with Irish
migrants in London for many years and had a very clear vision that the Ireland
of the new millennium would need to come to grips with what was to be a
challenging new reality – that Ireland
was now a country of immigration
and no longer of emigration.
The Columban response to such a reality was
given an impetus by the 2000 chapter, which called on Columbans to respond to
the challenge of migration. The JPIC team in Ireland,
Pat Raleigh and Michael O’Sullivan, in consultation with Fr. Bobby, drafted a
proposal to establish a drop-in information center for migrants in Dublin. The center was originally
intended for Filipinos, who comprised the first big block of migrant workers in
Ireland.
It was a sign of a rapidly changing reality that the proposal was quickly
amended to “Asian,” to include Chinese and others, and then finally to “The
Migrant Information Centre.” At a very
early stage, Columban Sisters Kathleen McGrath and Monica Kelly became integral
parts of the project.
And so in 2001, the Migrant Information Centre
opened its doors in an effort to offer support to vulnerable migrant workers.
Situated in a central city location, it had plenty of business. Sr. Monica, Sr.
Kathleen and Fr. Bobby provided the core staff, with support from Michael and
Pat. Later, Columban lay missionaries Sancha Magat, Eden de la Cruz, and Annie
Budiongan, became involved. For just over a year, these different members of
the wider Columban family worked together on developing a model that would
allow them to work with migrant workers on issues which they affected them.
It quickly became clear that if the center was
to provide the scope and quality of service that was necessary, it would need
to enhance funding and expertise. The
appointment of Siobhan O’Donoghue as coordinator during the second year of
operation was crucial in that Siobhan was very successful in the related
objectives of accessing funding and building a solid organizational structure.
The Migrant Rights Centre, as it is known, established
itself as a leading advocate for migrants’ rights in Ireland, as well as providing
ongoing support and advice to thousands of migrants each year. While the
organization has grown substantially since its early days, the Columban
influence and support is still strong. From the start, the MRCI has been
concerned with combining a compassionate and practical response to stories of
individual migrants with forceful and effective advocacy for change in the
structural and systemic factors that prohibit migrants and their families from
equal participation in Irish society. Such care for the individual, allied with
a concern to change structures that diminish peoples’ lives, reflects the
gospel vision on which Columban JPIC work is based and has become a core value
of the MRCI. As the organization
develops and continues to change to meet new challenges, these values will help
ensure that it does so in harmony with the vision that was developed when it was
a purely Columban initiative.
Resources:
ACTION ALERT:
Oppose the PORTS Act
Although immigration has recently taken a
backseat to economics in today’s political media coverage, it continues to be
an issue to which our government has yet to find a reasonable solution. Despite
an increase in the amount of taxpayer dollars used to fund and maintain the
current U.S.
border policies, the estimated number of attempted migrant crossings has not
decreased. The current border strategy
does not stop the flow of immigrants into the U.S.; rather, it simply pushes
migrants out of populated areas and into the harshest, most perilous regions of
the desert.
Currently, anti-immigration legislators in the
House of Representatives are pushing for the approval of the “Putting Our
Resources Towards Security (PORTS) Act” (HR5662).U.S.
Your voice is needed urgently to encourage those who represent us to oppose
this bill and instead seek a comprehensive solution to our broken immigration
system. The bill attempts to address the complex issue of immigration by
increasing the number of border patrol officers, support staff and funding. If
such a law were put into action, it would be a blatant misuse of taxpayers’
dollars and inevitably would lead to treacherous and life-threatening
conditions for the thousands of men, women, and children who seek refuge in the
At the May 22nd hearing of the House
Committee on Homeland Security, the author of the bill, Representative
Silvestre Reyes (D-El Paso, TX) was asked if such an increase in border patrol
personnel were to be approved, what would be the source of such a workforce? In response, Representative Reyes proposed an
idea that involved the hiring of wounded military veterans from Iraq
as support personnel. We are opposed to such a strategy because it explicitly
implies increased militarization of the border.
As Columban missionaries living and serving in
the US,
we feel a deep solidarity with the migrant experience and see firsthand the
many positive contributions that migrants make to our local communities and
parishes, to the overall economy and to our nation’s future. At the same time,
we empathize with those who are most vulnerable and are saddened to see them
pushed into life-threatening situations in their pursuit of greater
opportunity. We uphold that the starting point for any immigration policy
should be respect for the basic human dignity and rights of the migrant as a
child of God.
Please visit http://oneborderonebody.nd.edu to
view a wonderful video concerning the Mexican border situation and the solidarity
that exists in spite of fences and barriers.
“Amidst a desert of death and a
culture of fear, [One Border One Body] testifies to God’s universal, undivided,
and unrestricted love for all people. It speaks of the gift and challenge of
Christian faith and the call to feed the world’s hunger for peace, justice and
reconciliation. More than just another documentary on immigration, this film is
a meditation of the Kingdom
of God, a globalization
of solidarity, and a journey of hope.” –One Border One Body
Please call your Representative and tell them to OPPOSE
the PORTS Act (H.R. 5662). Representatives
are interested in the opinions and needs of their constituents.Take the
opportunity to tell them that you expect a comprehensive solution to our broken
immigration system. To reach your Representative, call (202) 224-3121 and ask
to be connected to their office. (Find your representative here: http://www.house.gov/zip/ZIP2Rep.html).
Ask to speak to the staffer who handles immigration issues, and once connected:
- Tell them that you oppose all piecemeal
legislation, including the PORTS Act, that waste taxpayer money and offer
no real solution to the issue of immigration.
- Urge them to focus on a
comprehensive solution for our broken immigration system that unites families,
provides an earned path to citizenship for undocumented migrants already living
here, protects human rights and Border ecology and
respects the concerns of Border communities.
Putting Our Resources Towards Security (PORTS) Act Letter Template
Dear Representative [enter Representative’s name],
I write to you as a concerned citizen and a person of faith
to urge you to work for real and meaningful change of our broken immigration
system.
I strongly urge you to oppose bill HR5662, the PORTS Act,
introduced in the House of Representatives on March 31st, 2008. In a futile attempt to address the complex
issue of immigration, this bill takes an overly simplistic approach by
increasing border patrol personnel, support staff, and funding. Simply increasing resources and manpower at
ports of entry is not a solution to the immigration challenge with which our
country is faced. Rather, this approach will
exacerbate the problem by causing a humanitarian issue as well when thousands
of men, women, and children are pushed to attempt crossings at the harshest,
most dangerous areas of the desert.
The issue of immigration in the United States must be addressed by
a comprehensive legislative solution
that unites families, provides an
earned path to citizenship for undocumented migrants already living here, protects
human rights and Border ecology, and respects the concerns of Border
communities.
Thank you for your attention to this issue and your efforts in
ensuring that a meaningful and comprehensive solution to the immigration
challenge is found.
Sincerely,
[NAME]
[Congregation, if appropriate]
[City, State]
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