US migrants: 'care for our children, build our homes, but have no rights'

Archbishop Jose Gomez

The Archbishop of Los Angeles, Mgr Jose Gomez, has spoken about the need to continue to urge for a review of immigration policy in the United States. This is simply to ask for a more humane approach towards immigrants, he said: "They are always, first and foremost, human beings".

The occasion was a conference on immigration held in the Rotary Club conference centre in Los Angeles, organized to conclude the National Migration Week, which took place from 5 - 11 January. The main goal of the conference was to promote greater awareness of the difficult situation in which immigrants live, especially children.

"We are talking about souls, human souls, not numbers or statistics - the Archbishop said in his speech - . We are talking about fathers who, without warning, will not be home for dinner tonight. Parents who do not see their families for a decade".

Mgr Gomez, born in Mexico in a naturalised United States citizen, and today is considered a leading voice in the effort to reform immigration. Many times he expressed himself in favour of the bill approved last year by the Senate that provides for the possibility of gaining citizenship for about 11 million immigrants living in the country without documents. The Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States has also reaffirmed its support for a complete bill.

"We forget that people are dying in the desert, trying to reach our borders - said the Archbishop - or women and children who are victims of smugglers and human traffickers". We tacitly accept a permanent underclass of men and women who live on the outskirts of our society... They take care of our children, build our homes and clean our offices, collect the food we eat, but have no rights, no security".

Source: Fides