April 20, 2010

WASHINGTON – Increasing the U.S. Gross Domestic Product by $1.5 trillion over the next ten years is not a bad outcome, says humanitarian and advocacy agency Church World Service who exerted new pressure on Congress Monday to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation this year, citing positive economic reasons among others for urgency.

Despite major financial reform issues and climate and energy legislation now facing Congress and the administration before mid term election fever overtakes Capitol Hill, CWS is urging Congress to enact immigration reform now – specifically, reform that reunites families and provides a pathway to legal status and eventual citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

"Immigration reform isn't just the moral thing to do, it's the practical thing to do and it's what's best for the United States," said Church World Service Executive Director and CEO The Rev. John L. McCullough.

In letters to members of the Senate and House, McCullough cited a recent report by the Center for American Progress which found that a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants and reforms to the visa system would increase the gross domestic product by $1.5 trillion over 10 years, including increases in tax revenue, investment, and wage growth and job creation for native-born and newly legalized workers.

The report projected a related increase in consumer spending and a nearly $5 billion increase in tax revenues.

"Both the decisions about immigration reform and the tenor of the debate in Congress will say a lot about the kind of nation we are and the kind of nation we will become," McCullough said.

The advocacy push is the latest in CWS's ongoing campaign for more humane immigration policies during the current and the previous administration. It builds upon the momentum of the March for America, which brought more than 200,000 people to Washington last month for a massive immigration reform rally.

"We have a chance right before us, to transform a dysfunctional, unjust, anti-family system into something that reflects the best of who we are, while helping our economy," McCullough said in the congressional communiqu̩. "Our communities cannot wait for immigration reform. Loved ones separated, workers exploited, communities in fear Рwe need Congress to exhibit the moral courage necessary to enact immigration reform this year.

"When mothers are torn from their children in middle-of-the-night home invasion immigration enforcement efforts; when fathers are rounded up in the middle of the workday in raids; when our immigrant brothers and sisters are shamed in their communities by racial profiling; when those who seek to reunite with family members must wait years, often decades, to see their loved ones – something must change," he said, "and it is the responsibility of Congress to change it for the better."

Over the past year, CWS advocacy efforts for just immigration reform has included petitions signed by millions across the U.S., sending of postcards, hosting of prayer vigils, and joining with grassroots advocates in lobbying members of Congress. As part of the agency's global and domestic immigration and refugee services program CWS works with community agencies to welcome immigrants by providing ESL services and citizenship classes, and is now expanding its immigration legal services in cities across the country.

For full text of McCullough's letter, visit: http://www.churchworldservice.org/site/DocServer/CWS_Director_Calls_for_Immigration_Reform_This_Year.pdf?docID=3181.

Church World Service