The Episcopal News Service reports on a Washington DC priest speaking out in favor of amending the present Immigration reform bill making its way through the capital so that it would emphasize family reunification rather than focusing on selecting candidates for immigration solely on needed skills:
“Expressing support for immigrant family reunification at a May 23 Capitol Hill news conference, the Rev. Dr. Luis Leon, rector of St. John’s Lafayette Square Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., spoke in favor of a proposed amendment authored by Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) to the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2007.
The Senators’ amendment would remove barriers to reunification for the nuclear families of lawful permanent residents.
‘The Episcopal Church’s 2006 legislative body, General Convention, expressed strong support for comprehensive immigration legislation and regarded family unity as an imperative of any reformed system,’ stated Leon. ‘Sadly, the Senate compromise legislation includes provisions that devalue family sponsored immigration.’ The Clinton-Hagel-Menendez amendment would reclassify the spouses and minor children of lawful permanent immigrants as ‘immediate relatives,’ thereby exempting them from the visa caps.”
Read the rest here (which includes the full text of Leon’s remarks): Episcopal Life Online – NEWS