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Archbishop Cupich advocates for immigration reform - Moral, economic and political benefits of immigration reform discussed at roundtable

By Michelle Martin | Staff writer
Sunday, March 22, 2015

Archbishop Cupich advocates for immigration reform - Moral, economic and political benefits of immigration reform discussed at roundtable

Archbishop Cupich listens as Sen. Mark Kirk speaks at the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition Roundtable on March 9 at St. Ignatius College Prep, 1076 Roosevelt Road. Other speakers included Gov. Bruce Rauner, Rep. Adam Kinzinger and Rep. Bob Dold. Together they called on Congress to approve immigration reform that grows the economy, moves Illinois forward and keeps families together. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
Archbishop Cupich delivers his remarks as Gov. Bruce Rauner listens. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
Participants listen at the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition Roundtable on March 9 at St. Ignatius College Prep. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)

Archbishop Cupich continued to advocate for comprehensive immigration reform at an Illinois Business Immigration Coalition roundtable March 9, saying that the existing system, with parents being deported away from children, leads to social instability and political apathy among young people while unfairly exploiting undocumented workers who contribute to the U.S. economically and socially.

The archbishop led off a panel of speakers that was otherwise filled with Republican elected officials, including Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner; Sen. Mark Kirk; and U.S. Reps. Aaron Schock (18th District), Adam Kinzinger (16th District) and Bruce Dold (10th District). All of them spoke in favor of comprehensive immigration reform, including the points emphasized by the business coalition: visa expansions for highskilled, low-skilled and agricultural workers and legalization and a path to citizenship for the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants now living in the United States.

Archbishop Cupich said he was glad the lawmakers were there.

“It’s an opportunity for them to hear about the importance of comprehensive immigration reform from those who work every day in the trenches with the undocumented,” he said. “Comprehensive immigration reform is not just about the rights of individuals, but it’s about the good of families, and because it’s about the good of families, it’s also about the good of neighborhoods and cities. What we have seen over the last years is that families are beings split apart by deportations, and this weakens the nation’s social fabric because it weakens immigrant communities.”

The archbishop called Congress to task for failing to act on immigration reform, especially after the Senate passed a reform bill in June 2013 on which the House of Representatives has never voted.

“Failure to act has other consequences,” he said. “I see it in the faces of the young people. Whether they are undocumented or not, our young people today are losing confidence in the political process. They are our future leaders, whether they are the youth who witness their parents being taken away from them, or the youth who become discouraged about the political process when they see leaders unable to deal with the problems of the day which impact their lives and their friends and their classmates and peers. We are failing. This is not the way our nation should invest in young people, and young people know that.

“This is undoubtedly a very complex issue. But let’s be honest about something that is seldom reported: Our country benefits from the toil, the taxes, the purchasing power of a large number of undocumented workers, 8 million in all, it is estimated. Yet we do not at the same time offer them the protections of law. The moral issue here is that we can’t have it both ways. We can’t exploit and use these people without honoring their God-given rights.”

Indeed, the discussion was introduced by three members of the business coalition who spoke of the moral, economic and political benefits of immigration reform.

Ezequiel Flores, CEO of Flying Retail, which owns airport concessions, said that there is a moral imperative to fix the immigration system. Flores was raised in Little Village, born to a father who entered the United States illegally for the first time at age 21 to help put food on the table for his 10 siblings in Mexico. He was deported several times but always returned, eventually marrying in Chicago and gaining U.S. citizenship. When Flores asked his father why he kept coming back, his father told him that his love for his family trumped his fear of being deported.

Rich Guebert, president of the Illinois Farm Bureau, said that the state’s farmers need access to an experienced, stable, legal workforce to guarantee the efficient growing of food and other crops. William Kunkler, executive vice president of CC Industries, spoke of the need for any successful presidential contender to win at least a large percentage of Latino votes.

John Rowe, chairman emeritus of Exelon, moderated the discussion. He also called to task House Republicans who have stymied immigration reform and most recently tried to tie funding for the Department of Homeland Security to defunding President Barack Obama’s executive action deferring deportation and allowing work permits not only of undocumented young people brought to the United States as children, but also undocumented parents whose children are U.S. citizens.

“I’m very happy to say it’s not that way in Illinois,” Rowe said. “We are here to make immigration reform the bipartisan issue that it should be.”

Joshua Hoyt, the executive director of the National Partnership for New Americans — who identified himself as a Democrat — closed the session by noting that this is a difficult time for immigration reform, with a “poisonous” political atmosphere. The Illinois Business Immigration Coalition has members that range from large corporate interests to immigrant groups, and all members must work together to decide what to advocate for, he said.

“It requires patience, it requires persistence and it requires a sense of humor,” he said.

All of that will be needed if immigration reform is to pass, he said, but he believes it can be done.

“The votes to pass immigration reform exist on both sides of the aisle,” he said.

Topics:

  • cardinal cupich
  • immigration
  • st. ignatius college prep

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