WASHINGTON — Calling a proposed piece of legislation
"discriminatory," the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops' Committee on Migration called on the president and Congress to reject
a bill that seeks to drastically cut legal immigration levels over a decade,
and which also would greatly limit the ability of citizens and legal residents
to bring family into the U.S.
"Had this discriminatory legislation been in place
generations ago, many of the very people who built and defended this nation
would have been excluded," said Bishop Joe S. Vasquez of Austin, Texas,
chair of the bishops' migration committee.
In a news release late Aug. 2, he criticized the RAISE Act
introduced earlier in the day by Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, and David
Perdue, R-Georgia.
Other limitations proposed by the RAISE Act would permanently cap
the number of refugees allowed safe passage, "thereby denying our country
the necessary flexibility to respond to humanitarian crisis," said Bishop
Vasquez.
"As a church, we believe the stronger the bonds of family,
the greater a person's chance of succeeding in life. The RAISE Act imposes a
definition of family that would weaken those bonds," he said.
President Donald Trump said earlier in the day he backed the bill
and said it would reduce poverty, increase wages and save taxpayer money.
Bishop Vasquez said the bill would be detrimental to families and negates
contributions of immigrants to the U.S., and he called on Congress and the
administration instead "to work together in a bipartisan fashion to enact
into law comprehensive immigration reform."
"I believe that such reform must recognize the many
contributions that immigrants of all backgrounds have made to our nation, and
must protect the lives and dignity of all, including the most vulnerable,"
said Bishop Vasquez.