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Our history as a faith community in the United States has been as an immigrant church in an immigrant nation. From 1890 to 1920, 18.2 million immigrants entered the United States, mostly from southern and eastern Europe. By 1920, immigrants constituted 75% of U.S. Catholics. In response, the Church created, adapted or expanded ministries to meet the needs of this immigrant population. Parishes, schools, hospitals, charities, religious communities, mutual aid societies and fraternal and sororal groups provided for our own.
The Church's biblical experience of migration has taught all Catholics to empathize with migrants. Jesus himself was a migrant--born in a manger on a journey, he and his family fled Egypt, and in his ministry he had "nowhere to lay his head." (Mt. 8:20). We have been taught by Him to look for Him in the faces of migrants and to welcome the stranger. -- Catholic Charities USA Policy Paper, 2005
In the United States, the Catholic Church has been instrumental in helping immigrants and refugees adapt to their new country since the founding of the nation. Until the early twentieth century, these efforts were organized at the local diocesan and parish levels, and typically involved the provision of pastoral care, social services, and education. In 1965, the Department of Migration and Refugee Services (MRS) was established as a part of the United States Catholic Conference to oversee refugee resettlement activities, public policy development and advocacy, and the provision of legal immigration services.
In 1990, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc (CLINIC), originally a part of MRS, became separately incorporated to support a rapidly growing network of community-based immigration programs. The purpose of the organization is to deliver legal services to indigent and low-income immigrants, principally through diocesan immigration programs, and to meet the immigration needs identified by the Catholic Church in the United States.
In 1999, the U.S. Bishops began issuing statements about the issue of immigration and migration, beginning with
From 2000-2003, MRS supported the bishops in the development of three more significant pastoral Letters:
In 2005, the USCCB and the MRS initiated a campaign for immigration reform called Justice for Immigrants: A Journey of Hope. The objectives of this campaign are to: (1) educate the public about Church teaching on migration and immigrants; (2) create political will for positive immigration reform; (3) enact legislative and administrative reforms based on the principles articulated by the bishops; and (4) organize Catholic networks to assist qualified immigrants obtain the benefits of the reforms. Click here for an excellent Parish Kit that includes educational tools, fact sheets, homily aids, and media tips to prepare your parish and community for the upcoming debate on comprehensive immigration reform.
In 2005, Catholic Charities USA responded to the Bishops' campaign by mobilizing the members of Catholic Charities and those we serve with an appeal for immigration reform called Justice for Newcomers: a Catholic Call for Solidarity and Reform.
In 2007, recognizing that as many as 700,000 men, women and children were being trafficked globally each year, USCCB published On Human Trafficking to highlight the problem, and to call upon Catholics and Parishes to identify and support survivors, and to advocate about the issue on their behalf.
Most recently, MRS and USCCB released two issue briefs, of a series, on immigration. For information about both of these, please contact Antonio Cube at
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Why Don’t They Come Here Legally? provides a thumbnail sketch of applicable laws governing lawful immigration, analyzes the facts, and provides the Conference’s policy and pastoral perspective on the issue of immigrants’ unlawful entry into the United States.
Birthright Citizenship: The Real Story provides an overview of applicable laws governing birthright citizenship, a brief summary of current attempts to change the law, and the Conference’s policy perspective on the issue.
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