May 26, 2010

WASHINGTON – Church World Service Executive Director and CEO John L. McCullough today pressed President Obama to convene a bipartisan summit with one goal – enactment of comprehensive immigration reform this year.

Federal immigration reform has become all the more urgent, he said, as Arizona and at least 12 other states move to introduce their own "fixes,'‘ which threaten to create an "unworkable and contradictory patchwork of local immigration laws that don't serve national security, economic recovery or human rights.

"This is a worrisome trend that may not be easy to reverse if we don't act now. The worst thing the federal government can do right now is stand by and do nothing as other states follow Arizona's example," he said in his letter to the President, adding his appreciation for President Obama's recent statements that Arizona's new anti-immigrant law is a misdirected one.

McCullough today also wrote all members of Congress urging them to support and participate in a bipartisan summit on immigration, saying, "This is a critical, historic time for the President and Congress to put politics aside, act decisively, and exhibit the moral courage necessary to do what's best for America and enact immigration reform."

Church World Service is a global humanitarian agency supporting sustainable grassroots development, disaster relief, and refugee assistance and working to promote fair national and international policies.

"As the Executive Director and CEO of Church World Service," McCullough said in his statements to the President and Congress, "I write on behalf of our 36 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican member communions, as well as 60 CWS regional offices and affiliate immigration and refugee service agencies across the country, comprising millions of people of faith, to strongly call for immigration reform this year that reunites families and creates a process for undocumented immigrants to earn their legal status and eventual citizenship."

He noted that "fear and desperation have been plaguing millions of Americans for decades due to our country's broken and antiquated immigration system. The First Lady was a witness just last week, when a 7-year-old girl asked her why you were going to separate her from her mother for â*˜not having papers.'

"Americans are ready for a solution that exemplifies the best of our national spirit, as evidenced by a number of events around the country bringing together hundreds of thousands of people asking for action on immigration reform. Furthermore, numerous studies show that immigration reform is not only the right thing to do, it's the practical thing to do as it will help heal communities and separated families and generate more than $1.5 trillion in new GDP over 10 years.

"The alternatives to immigration reform are few: an increase in the enforcement apparatus, which would take attention away from the real dangers the U.S. faces today; massive deportation, which would cost billions, cause economic ruin and would be a moral injustice, or inaction, which would perpetuate the suffering, hardship and endless spending caused by the broken immigration system.

"If nothing is done to halt the implementation of Arizona's S.B. 1070 and comprehensive immigration reform gets delayed once again," McCullough concluded, "we risk entering into a different phase of our history where racial profiling and discrimination become more the norm than the exception."

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