Strangers No Longer: Together on a Journey of Hope (Summary)

 The landmark pastoral letter by the Catholic Bishops of Mexico and the United States, Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope identifies the following five principles, based on Scriptures and Catholic Social Teaching, that guide the Church’s views on migration:

  1. Persons have the right to find opportunities in their homeland. (34.) All persons have the right to find in their own countries the economic, political, and social opportunities to live in dignity and achieve a full life through the use of their God-given gifts. In this context, work that provides a just, living wage is a basic human need.
  2. Persons have the right to migrate to support themselves and their families. (35.) The Church recognizes that all the goods of the earth belong to all people. When persons cannot find employment in their country of origin to support themselves and their families, they have a right to find work elsewhere in order to survive. Sovereign nations should provide ways to accommodate this right.
  3. Sovereign nations have the right to control their borders. (36.) The Church recognizes the right of sovereign nations to control their territories but rejects such control when it is exerted merely for the purpose of acquiring additional wealth. More powerful economic nations, which have the ability to protect and feed their residents, have a stronger obligation to accommodate migration flows.
  4. Refugees and asylum seekers should be afforded protection. (37.) Those who flee wars and persecution should be protected by the global community. This requires, at a minimum, that migrants have a right to claim refugee status without incarceration and to have their claims fully considered by a competent authority.
  5. The human dignity and human rights of undocumented migrants should be respected.(38.) Regardless of their legal status, migrants, like all persons, possess inherent human dignity that should be respected. Often they are subject to punitive laws and harsh treatment from enforcement officers from both receiving and transit countries. Government policies that respect the basic human rights of the undocumented are necessary.

Based on the above principles, the U.S. Bishops have offered the following recommendations for immigration reform legislation: [4]

  • Earned legalization that allows foreign nationals of good moral character to access a path to legal permanent residency that can lead to citizenship. Any proposal that would keep formerly undocumented immigrants in a tenuous legal status and not permit them the opportunity to earn the rights and benefits of full citizenship would not be acceptable to the bishops.
  • Future Worker Program. Recognizing the importance that low-skilled labor plays in our economy and the history of worker abuse in the H-2A (seasonal agriculture) and H-2B (seasonal non-agricultural) visa programs, the bishops call for reform of worker programs that include workplace protections, living wage levels, family unity, and safeguards against the displacement of U.S. workers.
  • Family-based Immigration Reform. The bishops will insist that family-based immigration remain a corner-stone of the U.S. immigration program. To address the long waits for family members to be reunited, the bishops want to see an expansion of the number of family visas available.
  • Restoration of Due Process Rights. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 1996 has had devastating impacts on immigrant due process rights and family unity. At a minimum, the bishops would like to see IIRARA’s three and ten year bars to re-entry eliminated.
  • Addressing Root Causes. Recognizing that many immigrants feel compelled to leave their home countries because of crushing poverty, widespread violence, and persecution, the bishops want Congress to address the push factors of migration.
  • Enforcement. The U.S. Catholic bishops recognize the right of the U.S. government to control its borders, but believe enforcement measures should be targeted, proportional, and humane, and focus on those who truly threaten public safety, including drug traffickers, human traffickers, and would-be terrorists.

Source: Sue Weishar, Strangers No Longer: Catholic Teachings on Immigration Reform (http://www.loyno.edu/jsri/strangers-no-longer), Jesuit Social Research Institute, Loyola University, 2013.

For more information on Catholic teaching and action on immigration, please visit our Catholic Social Concerns page.