Nebraska Bishops Take on Immigration Issue
By admin at 17 February, 2009, 4:22 pm
Fearing that illegal immigration legislation by the state could lead to profiling and intimidation, three Catholic bishops in Nebraska are discouraging from broadening immigration laws and calling on the state’s Catholics to pray for a way for all immigrants to receive legal status.
In a statement signed by the bishops of Omaha, Lincoln and Grand Island Nebraska, the group acknowledges that immigration is a complex issue but says it also presents opportunity.
The bishops also say that securing the nation’s border is a matter of national security and concede that illegal immigration is often associated with other forms of illegal activity like identity theft and drug trafficking.
But they caution local governments from creating legislation that could be discriminatory or become a form of intimidation.
“The idea, for example, of a city ordinance making proof of legal status a pre-condition for being able to obtaining housing, i.e., shelter for oneself and one’s family, strikes us as being fundamentally unjust, vindictive and harmful,” the bishops say.
Recently Janet Napolitano, the new head of the Department of Homeland Security, said there had been a slowdown in illegal immigration which she attributed to the downturn in the economy.
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