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Framing the Discussion and the Debate:
A Scorecard You Can Use to Discuss and Evaluate the Elements of Current Legislation

Recommendation 1: The Need for Immigration Reform

We encourage the United States to enact broad immigration reform legislation that puts undocumented laborers and their families on the path to lawful permanent residence and citizenship, and that creates greater legal avenues for necessary workers to enter the United States in the future.

• provide family members the same legal status as the program’s principal beneficiaries.
  Yes No
• offer the undocumented (particularly agricultural laborers) the same labor and workplace protections as U.S. citizens.
  Yes No
• protect the wages and benefits of U.S. workers.
  Yes No
• include identity and security checks on all beneficiaries.
  Yes No
• eliminate legal immigration backlogs and processing delays.
  Yes No
• support and facilitate the important role that charitable legal immigration programs must play to assure the success of a legalization program.
  Yes No
• strengthen immigration enforcement efforts in ways that respect human rights.
  Yes No
• ease the caps on family-based immigration as a way to eliminate backlogs.
  Yes No
• remove barriers to family reunification in U.S. immigration law that are based on low income, past undocumented status, and other immigration transgressions.
  Yes No
• expand refugee admissions and create an international system of protection for the millions of persons in refugee-like situations (both inside and outside their countries) who do not meet the refugee definition.
  Yes No
• assure that U.S. interdiction, interception, pre-inspection and expedited removal programs do not prevent those who are legitimately fleeing persecution and similar hardship from reaching and seeking haven in the United States.
  Yes No
• eliminate barriers to political asylum in the United States, including the one-year filing deadline, the safe third country agreement and the criminal prosecution of asylum-seekers.
  Yes No
• significantly decrease the use of DHS detention, limiting it to cases that present a danger or flight risk, and significantly expand alternatives-to-detention.
  Yes No
• develop anti-terror policies that distinguish newcomers from terrorists, respect human rights, prevent further attacks and do not drive immigrants into hiding.
  Yes No

Recommendation 2: The Need for a Hurricane Response to Immigrants Affected by Hurricane Katrina

As demonstrated by the response to Hurricane Katrina, Catholic Charities agencies cannot meet their mission of service to the poor and vulnerable if they do not serve immigrants. Newcomers are among the victims of this disaster and thousands face particular hardship and uncertainty based on their immigration situations. Catholic Charities immigration and refugee program staff are poised to play a unique role in serving Gulf Coast evacuees as they attempt to resettle, work and secure legal status in communities across the nation.

• provide temporary legal status and work authorization for all immigrants who need it.
  Yes No
• assure that immigrants with legal status or pending cases before the DHS and Immigration Court are not prejudiced in any way due to the disaster.
  Yes No
• not discriminate in the provision of relief and other assistance based on immigration status.
  Yes No
• not take the occasion of this tragedy to enforce violations of U.S. immigration law
  Yes No

Recommendation 3: The Need for An Immigrant Policy

The United States has an immigration policy that determines who can enter the country and who may remain. It needs an "immigrant" policy to welcome, to help integrate and to promote the success of newcomers.

• fund a unified set of citizenship, social service, educational, civic integration and resettlement programs to empower the nation’s 35 million immigrants.
  Yes No
• restore the eligibility of lawful permanent residents for public benefits and increase outreach efforts to assure that the U.S. citizen children of undocumented immigrants receive the benefits for which they qualify.
  Yes No
• allow undocumented children to pay in-state tuition at their state colleges.
  Yes No
• permit undocumented residents to obtain drivers’ licenses and to use identity documents that will allow them to open bank accounts and otherwise negotiate life in the United States.
  Yes No

Recommendation 4: The Need for Anti-Poverty Reforms

We support a number of measures to improve the economic prospects, health, labor protections, and stability of all U.S. residents, including newcomers.

• increase the minimum wage to a living wage.
  Yes No
• extend health care coverage to its 45 million uninsured residents.
  Yes No
• extend U.S. labor laws to agricultural laborers and other excluded workers, strengthen the sanctions for violations of these laws, and enforce them vigorously.
  Yes No