IMMIGRATION: NEEDS TO BE ON THE FRONT BURNER

We keep hearing conflicting reports from Congress on whether they will proceed with any kind of needed immigration reform.  The Senate-passed Bill is in the House, and many predict that if that Bill were brought to the floor of the House today, it would pass.  But apparently, the Republicans won't move a Bill to the floor unless a majority of their party would vote for it.  That is really tragic.

The inability of Congress to fix the broken immigration system is not only a major public scandal for our country, but a moral and ethical failure.  We continue to leave countless millions of people living in the shadows, living in fear, and living in families torn asunder by deportations.  This situation is morally unacceptable to a country founded with, and enhanced by, countless waves of immigrants.

I am saddened to hear people on talk radio programs decrying the presence of so many new immigrants in our midst.  However, we forget that these people are here for one reason:  we have offered the magnet of low-skill and low-paid jobs which no one else in our country will take.  And so, they have come and they have taken those jobs.

During the dark days of the Great Recession, when farmers could not get enough farm workers to harvest the crops, did you see other unemployed Americans lining up to pick strawberries, peaces, and apples?  No, because they can't and won't do that type of work--for any salary.

The Senate Bill is not perfect, but it is the most comprehensive proposal on Capitol hill.

We all need to urge our House Representative to insist on a vote on the Senate Bill before them; and to halt these delaying tactics which are taking such a terrible burden upon our immigrant brothers and sisters.

St. Toribio Romo, pray for us!!