But failure to act has other consequences. It undermines the faith of young persons and children in our country — the future leaders of our nation. The young people I am referring to are those who witness their parents being taken away from them. But, they are also the youth who become discouraged about the political process when they see leaders unable to deal with the problems of the day which impact the lives of their friends, classmates and peers. This is not the way for our nation to invest in young people, and young people know that. Undoubtedly there is a complexity to the issue of immigration reform. As pastoral leaders, who work every day with families caught in a broken system, it is clear to us that the only way forward is to give this discussion a moral framework. That means recognizing that this issue is not just about the people who are undocumented, but it is also about the values of our nation. We need to be honest about something that is seldom reported — our country benefits from the toil, taxes and purchasing power of a large number of undocumented workers (8 million), yet we do not at the same time offer them the protections of the law. The moral issue here is that we cannot have it both ways — exploit and use these people without honoring their God-given rights. It is also not just about security narrowly defined as border control, but security that actively and openly includes people in the work of building a just society. Nor is it just about the fidelity to the rule of law, but fidelity to our heritage as a country of immigrants, and it is not just about workers who aspire for a better life for their children, but about employers whose businesses create the need for these workers in the first place. To be clear, the church supports the right of a sovereign nation to control its borders and to enforce the law, but it must be done in a way that upholds human dignity and American values. We do not oppose enforcement as a general matter, but we oppose it when it violates that dignity and those values, such as due process for all and protection from persecution for those fleeing it. Many of our immigration laws fail to reflect these values. This is a time for all of us to be real, to be adult in our discussions and morally decisive in our response. Deportation- only policies not only break apart families, but negatively impact our economy that needs these workers and only keeps the undocumented in the shadows, thus making it impossible for us to really be serious about national security. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has pushed for comprehensive immigration reform and favored President Obama’s executive order, but we considered that step just a band aid to the much bigger problem yet to be solved. Trying to block that order and deport up to 4 million people — mainly DREAMers brought to the United States as children and the parents of American citizens — is not a serious proposal nor an adult way to deal with this issue. That is why this month, Catholic bishops across the country are making a renewed push in support of DAPA/DACA that protects millions of immigrants from deportations. But, we need a permanent fix by Congress. If Congress disagrees with the President’s actions, then Congress should supersede them by passing comprehensive immigration reform legislation, consistent with our nation’s values. I call on all of our elected officials to exercise real moral leadership in this moment. We need to ask ourselves: As a nation, do we want to criminalize millions of persons who have built equities in this country, worked hard and paid taxes? Do we want to deprive children of their parents’ love, remove young men and women from the only country they have known and tear the fabric of whole communities? I join my prayer to that of Pope Francis who said, “We pray for a heart which will embrace immigrants. God will judge us upon how we have treated the most needy.” That is my prayer for you, as I urge you, our elected officials, to exercise your moral leadership and pass legislation this year that regularizes the status of the undocumented and gives them a path to citizenship.