Ahead of the Democratic National Convention this week, leaders released the party’s platform, a 91-page document that dwarfs the Republican Party’s “America First” manifesto. On policy—from the economy to education—the two parties offer voters distinct positions. The difference is particularly acute on the hot-button topic of immigration, an issue on which the U.S. bishops have weighed in consistently over the last 20 years.
“If we don’t have a Border, we don’t have a Country,” the Republican document reads, quoting former president Donald J. Trump. The party is committed to stopping “illegal immigration,” and Republicans vow to “secure the Border, deport Illegal Aliens, and reverse the Democrats’ Open Borders Policies that have driven up the cost of Housing, Education, and Healthcare for American families.”
The Republican platform, which was curated by Mr. Trump and released last month, frames immigration through the lens of the American worker, presupposing that immigrants take jobs away from U.S. citizens. For example, according to the platform, Republicans will “end Chain Migration, and put American Workers first!”
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“Chain migration” refers to family-based migration, where those who are already citizens or legal residents sponsor family members living abroad. Rather than “chain migration,” immigrant advocates—including those working for the church—refer to this as “family reunification.”
According to the Democratic platform, the party will seek ways to expand family reunification. The U.S. Citizenship Act, which the party supports, would “increase the number of family-sponsored and employment-based visas that are available each fiscal year so that people aren’t forced to wait decades for a visa.” The platform also notes President Biden’s “New Family Reunification Parole Process,” which helped a number of immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia and Haiti reunite with family members in the United States while their applications were still pending.
“The United States has long been a leader in refugee resettlement, providing a beacon of hope for persecuted people around the world, facilitating international efforts to address record displacement, and demonstrating the generosity and core values of the American people,” the platform states.
“Congress must pass legislation to provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, farmworkers, careworkers, and other long-term undocumented individuals who contribute to this country, by paying taxes and contributing to their local economies,” according to the Democratic platform. “Democrats will explore opportunities to identify or create work permits for immigrants, long-term undocumented residents, and legally processed asylum seekers in our country.”
Overall, the Democratic platform on immigration is far more robust and recognizes many more nuances of the immigration system. It refers, for example, to different kinds of visas, and applauds steps that the Biden administration took to expand Temporary Protective Status for those who come from “countries experiencing armed conflicts, natural disasters, or other crises.” The Republican platform, on the other hand, does not even mention Dreamers, undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as minors. The Democrats platform briefly mentions root causes of migration, while the Republicans do not.
The Catholic Church has not shied away from the issue of immigration. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops established the Justice for Immigrants campaign in 2004 as a way of prioritizing comprehensive immigration reform. According to its website, the campaign is “an effort to unite and mobilize a growing network of Catholic institutions, individuals, and other persons of goodwill in support of immigration reform.”
The campaign often points to Catholic social teaching on the issue of migration. For example, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him.
The bishops established the campaign after issuing “Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope,” a joint pastoral letter with the bishops of Mexico, in 2003. In that letter, the bishops acknowledged “the right and responsibility of sovereign nations to control their borders and to ensure the security interests of their citizens.” Yet they rejected “some of the policies and tactics that our governments have employed to meet this shared responsibility.”
Further, according to the bishops, the right to enforce borders is not absolute and is only one of five principles that emerge from the church teaching on migration. The other four are:
- Persons have the right to find opportunities in their homeland.
- Persons have the right to migrate to support themselves and their families.
- Refugees and asylum seekers should be afforded protection.
- The human dignity and human rights of undocumented migrants should be respected.
Even though the document is more than 20 years old, it remains remarkably applicable to the current immigration impasse. The bishops wrote:
While the sovereign state may impose reasonable limits on immigration, the common good is not served when the basic human rights of the individual are violated. In the current condition of the world, in which global poverty and persecution are rampant, the presumption is that persons must migrate in order to support and protect themselves and that nations who are able to receive them should do so whenever possible.
Granted, party platforms do not dictate future party actions, and the Democratic platform will likely be modified and updated. (For instance, it refers to President Biden as the party’s candidate for office.) The current administration, for its part, has not been short of critics on the issue. But the Democrats have put forward a position on immigration that resonates with much of Catholic social teaching. The Republicans have not.
