Faith Leaders Urge Senators to vote NO on the Secure and Succeed Act

here. February 14, 2018 Dear Majority Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Schumer: The faith community writes today urging all Members of Congress to oppose the Secure and Succeed Act of 2018. This bill combines the harmful provisions in the Secure Act (S.2192) and the Succeed Act (S. 1852) and would dismantle access to family reunification. Faith leaders call on all Members of Congress to reject the Secure and Succeed Act and any bill that would redefine family. It is critical that rather than this harmful bill, bipartisan legislation such as the Dream Act (S.1615) be enacted. Another bipartisan bill, the USA Act (S. 2367), is a compromise solution that would provide dreamers with a pathway to citizenship and authorize funds for data-driven border technology. While the Secure and Succeed Act would provide a 12-year opportunity to seek U.S. citizenship for undocumented individuals who arrived in the United States before they were 16 years old, based on previous versions of this bill, it would mandate gravely disproportional consequences that would result in immediate deportation. For example, young people who need to take a year off of school or who lose their job and can’t find another within a year would see their protection unfairly revoked — for situations with which many young people today are familiar. It would also force undocumented individuals to sign away their due process rights – without the ability to have their case heard before an immigration judge. This bill would also permanently ban families from reuniting in the United States, rather than remedying existing prolonged family separation at the hands of a burdensome system. We reject the redefinition of the “‘nuclear”’ family because we know siblings, adult children, and adult parents are all critical members of a family. The bill would keep U.S. citizens from sponsoring their siblings, and would bar green card holders (lawful permanent residents) from sponsoring their children over the age of 18. It would also make it nearly impossible for U.S. citizens to reunite with their parents, by replacing the permanent visa category currently in place with a 5-year renewable visa that would require private healthcare coverage and bar work authorization and an opportunity for permanent status or citizenship. Already, family-based visas are very limited: a U.S. citizen can only sponsor their spouse, child, parent, and sibling; and a green card holder can only sponsor their spouse and child. The bill would also eliminate the Diversity Visa Lottery program, which has been essential to immigrants from all over the world, women in particular. The Secure and Succeed Act would add $25 billion to increase Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and other deportation and border enforcement mechanisms. The United States already has robust border security measures in place, spending more than $18 billion on immigration enforcement every year, more than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined. This includes drones, mobile surveillance systems, video surveillance towers, 11,000 underground sensors, 700 miles of fencing, Blackhawk helicopters, and 18,127 border patrol agents at the southern border alone. The dramatic militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border region has also stifled the economic vitality and overall well-being of U.S. border communities. Additional border wall construction would only harm American communities, businesses, and landowners. Instead of the Secure and Succeed Act, the family community urges all Members of Congress to support the bipartisan Dream Act (S.1615/H.R. 3440). Another bipartisan proposal, the Uniting and Securing America (USA) Act (S. 2367/ H.R.4796), introduced by Senators McCain (R-AZ) and Coons (D-DE) and Representatives Hurd (R-TX) and Aguilar (D-CA), would offer a path to citizenship for dreamers and authorize funding for data-driven border technology. The USA Act would also address the root causes of forced migration by authorizing $1.04 billion in fiscal year 2018 for El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala to strengthen the rule of law, combat corruption and narcotics trafficking, and address underlying causes of poverty. Children, families, women, and men are fleeing violence, gang conscription, human trafficking, and sexual exploitation in these countries. Since 2005, in Honduras alone, murders of women and girls have increased by 346 percent, and murders of men and boys have grown by 292 percent. Because of this, the USA Act is a step toward a more long-term approach to responding to conditions that compel migration. Our faith communities urge Congress to enact a real solution that offers a pathway to citizenship for as many dreamers as possible without compromising family unity or other immigrant communities. Using the desperation of immigrant youth to push through destructive policies that undermine other immigrant and border communities violates our values and fails to promote the common good. We also ask you to remember that any legislative solution must honor the core tenets of human dignity and family unity. Sincerely, Adrian Dominican Sisters African American Ministers In Action Alliance of Baptists American Baptist Home Mission Societies American Friends Service Committee Bend the Arc Jewish Action Bread for the World Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph Christian Community Development Association Church World Service Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach Conference of the Presentation Sisters Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes Conventual Franciscan Friars – Province of Our Lady of Consolation Disciples Center for Public Witness (Disciples of Christ) Disciples Refugee & Immigration Ministries Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, WI Ecumenical Poverty Initiative Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Advocacy Office Faith In Public Life Franciscan Action Network Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, US Area Franciscans for Justice Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers) Ignatian Solidarity Network Institute Justice Team, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center Interfaith Worker Justice Islamic Society of North America Jesuit Conference Office of Justice and Ecology Jewish Council for Public Affairs Ladysmith Servite Sisters Leadership Conference of Women Religious Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington Office National Council of Churches National Council of Jewish Women National Justice for Our Neighbors National Religious Campaign Against Torture NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment Pax Christi USA School Sisters of St. Francis School Sisters of Notre Dame – Central Pacific Province School Sisters of Notre Dame Cooperative Investment Fund Sisters of Bon Secours USA Sisters of Charity, BVM Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross, USA Province Sisters of St. Benedict, St. Placid Priory Sisters of St. Dominic/Racine Dominicans Sisters of the Presentation T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights The Episcopal Church The Third Order Society of St. Francis, Province of the Americas The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society Trinity Health Union for Reform Judaism United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries UURISE – Unitarian Universalist Refugee & Immigrant Services & Education]]>