Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Birmingham (Agenzia Fides) - A delegation of the Congress today will hold a special session in Birmingham, Alabama, to examine the effects of the law HB56 not only on the immigrant community in this state, but also the economy. At the same time, the campaign "One family, one Alabama" starts today to seek the repeal of the law HB56. "We have seen the approval of anti-immigrant laws in other States, but Alabama has created something unique. Fear and chaos for a Latino community and immigrants, and it was terrible. The sense of danger and despair is palpable ... But history also gives me hope that the struggle for justice and civil rights in Alabama is still alive", said Illinois Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez in Washington before visiting Alabama.
Since early 2002 the Catholic Church in the United States is pushing the federal government and Congress to pass global immigration reform to allow millions of undocumented immigrants living in the country, most of them ' Latin America to emerge from the shadows. The Bishops called for a "profound and humane reform" of the law on immigration and decent treatment for immigrants.
Mgr. John Charles Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City (Utah) and President of the Migration Commission of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the United States, said last June that the Catholic Church seeks "to provide a pastoral and multinational response to people forced to migrate because of violence or economic difficulties". "In the debate on immigration in the United States one often loses sight that this is a global phenomenon and does not recognize political or economic reasons that drive people to migrate", he added.
Last week, the Catholic bishops and Protestant representatives of Kansas state said that the problem of migration is a national issue that requires a federal solution, and not a patchwork of state laws as in Arizona, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.
Mgr. Jaime Soto, Bishop of Sacramento, in California, President of the U.S. Bishops' with regards to the "cultural diversity in the Church", said that the Alabama law is an example of how states can enact measures "that in many cases are poorly conceived and poorly applied" in place of an effective national policy.
Alabama has about 185,000 Hispanics and from the information gathered by Fides, many manufacturing centers in the area begin to have problems to find a competent workforce after many Latinos abandon their jobs. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 21/11/2011)
