U.S. Border

Yesterday, the Florida Catholic Conference issued an action alert urging all Catholics to contact their Congressional representatives and senators in order to prevent the expansion of the E-Verify system. The bishops are urging our elected officials to oppose the expansion of E-Verify because “it will hurt both U.S. workers and the country’s already weakened economy.” Below is the full text of the action alert from the Florida Catholic Conference:

BACKGROUND: In the past decade, Congress has spent $117 billion of taxpayer dollars on immigration enforcement initiatives, yet the number of unauthorized immigrants in the country has grown to 11.2 million and the demand for foreign-born, low-skilled labor continues. Approximately 70 percent of the unauthorized population is in the U.S. labor force, and each year another 300,000 to 400,000 unauthorized immigrants enter the country. Our bishops have been consistent in calling for comprehensive immigration reform.

Some in Congress are now supporting the mandatory use of E-Verify by all 6 million U.S. employers. E-Verify is a largely voluntary program which allows employers to electronically verify workers’ employment eligibility with government databases. Due to well-documented flaws in the databases upon which it relies, E-Verify does not detect over half of the undocumented workers in the system, yet results in false positives for thousands of American workers.

Earlier today, I posted this on the Catholic Vote Action blog:

Participants Carry American Flag at Immigration Rally

This Thursday, July 29th, the controversial Arizona immigration law is set to take effect. While the majority of Americans agree with the passage and enactment of this law, the Church has opposed it from the beginning.

In the most recent show of opposition, Bishop Gerald Kicanas testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law on July 14th. In his testimony, the bishop of Tuscon remarked on the Arizona law, calling it an example of the frustration the American people have with Congress for the legislature’s laxity in passing immigration reform…

To read the full post, click here.

Florida's 8th Congressional District | Source: National Atlas

Over the last several weeks, campaign ads for the upcoming November elections have begun to increase, especially in high priority, battleground districts. Florida’s 8th Congressional District is one such district. Jockeying for the seat in the House of Representatives are one outspoken, ultra-liberal Democrat, Alan Grayson, and a handful of conservative Republican hopefuls. Not to mention those running for the seat who have other or no party affiliations.

In November 2008, Democratic newcomer Alan Grayson was able to oust Republican Ric Keller who represented the district since 2001. Now, Grayson is up for re-election. After his vote on the health care bill and the stimulus, many of his constituents are beginning to question whether or not he is the right person to represent their district.

Before we can get to the November general election, however, we must first go through primary voting season, which takes place for this particular district on August 24th. While there are no Democrats running against Grayson in the Democratic primary, there are seven Republicans who will have to duke it out come August. However, there is only one that stands out to me.

Supporters of SB1070 attend a rally at the Arizona Capitol | Source: AP

Over the last several weeks, the new Arizona immigration law has been making news across the country. There are those that completely agree with the new law and those that completely disagree with the new law. Immigration reform is such an important issue to the people of the United States and an important concern for the Catholic Church. It seems there hasn’t been too much said about this latest controversy by many mainstream Catholic bloggers. That needs to change; so, let’s take a look at the facts and the stance of the Church on this important concern of ours, shall we.

Before we get started, let’s examine what the Center for Immigration Studies says about immigration in Arizona. The center released the following information on the current situation in Arizona:

• The federal government estimated that Arizona had one of the fastest growing illegal immigrant populations in the country, increasing from 330,000 in 2000 to 560,000 by 2008.
• The federal government estimated that Arizona had one of the fastest growing illegal immigrant populations in the country, increasing from 330,000 in 2000 to 560,000 by 2008.
• Arizona has adopted other laws to deter the settlement of illegal immigrants in the state in recent years. The federal government estimates that the illegal immigrant population dropped by 18 percent in the state from 2008 to 2009, compared to a 7 percent drop for the nation as a whole. This may be evidence that the state enforcement efforts are having an impact.