UUSC Statement on Immigration

From the time this country was founded to the present, immigrants have been integral to shaping our identity as people of the United States. Although any credible account of this nation's birth and rise must also encompass the dispossession of American Indians and the forced enslavement of Africans, our history has largely been forged by immigrants seeking economic, religious, and political freedom. Immigrants of the past have fought and died in our wars, and they have been hardworking and committed to building democracy. These values remain alive in the immigrants of today. Many of them have lived here for years, have children who are U.S.-born citizens, and contribute to the economy every day through their work and by paying taxes.

Immigration is complex and brings to the surface a variety of competing interests. While the United States has a responsibility to monitor its borders and regulate flows of migration, doing so must not involve the violation of human rights. Policies that exploit and abuse people based on their immigration status violate human rights, particularly in the areas of civil liberties and economic justice.

While UUSC does not work directly on immigration, its implications and impacts weave through the fabric of our work. Our position on this critical issue arises from our experience working toward a wide range of human rights objectives carried out in partnership with others, who often make up the communities most affected by unjust and oppressive policies.

Immigration is a multifaceted international phenomenon with complex root causes, including humanitarian crises caused by armed conflict and natural disasters. However, current patterns of migration must be understood primarily as a response to economic globalization, which has permitted the free flow of capital across national borders, while workers are left behind to face devastated local economies and the loss of their livelihoods. Many immigrants, particularly those who are undocumented, have left their countries of origin at great personal risk and sacrifice to seek better opportunities in the United States. Given the forces that are driving immigration, neither pathways to lawful status nor border enforcement alone are adequate to manage the flow of immigrants into this country.

The ability to realize one's rights is shaped by dimensions of identity, including race, ethnicity, class, and gender. In our work, we see that immigrant women, who are often especially determined to seek improved means of supporting their families, are compelled to accept some of the most dangerous and low-paying jobs available. Similarly, indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities are disproportionately at risk due to their displacement from lands and resources as well as the discrimination they experience in their countries of origin. All too many of them continue to experience similarly precarious conditions in the United States.

Immigrants contribute to the protection of our nation. Over 60,000 immigrants are on active duty in the U.S. armed forces, and more than 20 percent of the recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor have been immigrants. Meanwhile, local and state police departments, with neither the legal authorization nor proper training, continue to improperly carry out immigration arrests. UUSC decries any law, policy, or practice that promotes racial profiling, that authorizes the indiscriminate roundup of people based on their appearance, or that subjects people to a scheme of unreasonable detention and accelerated deportation without adequate due process of law. We also call on the U.S. government to stop the militarization of the border. Immigration reform efforts that focus exclusively on securing the border are not only unlikely to work, but even worse, they promote fear, giving rise to a climate that endangers everyone's civil liberties.

Immigrants contribute to our communities through hard work, and by paying taxes, including payments to the Social Security system. These payments help provide state and federal benefits that many immigrants are ineligible to claim. The Social Security Administration reports that it holds approximately $420 billion from the earnings of immigrants who, under current law, will never be able to claim benefits. Some people fear that immigrants prevent native-born workers from economic advancement. The real constraints, however, have been placed on all low-wage workers, citizens and immigrants alike, by the U.S. government: the value of minimum wage is at its lowest since 1951, unions have been undermined, taxes on the wealthy have been cut, and large corporations are not being held accountable for labor practices that leave their workers in poverty.

Multinational companies routinely recruit large numbers of immigrants, who are then denied living wages and safe working conditions. Undocumented immigrants are more vulnerable to abusive labor and employment practices than other low-wage workers. Employers exploit racial tensions to ensure that workers do not organize to protect their rights. Furthermore, enforcement strategies, such as raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the use of Social Security "no-match" letters by the Department of Homeland Security, constitute blunt instruments that often separate families and needlessly punish children and elderly family members when breadwinners are targeted.

UUSC calls on Congress to avoid partisan politics and to expeditiously enact comprehensive immigration reform that will protect the human rights of the 10 to 20 million undocumented immigrants who live in the United States. Such legislation must also include a clear and reasonable process through which they can attain the rights and protections that they need to participate fully in our society. Channels for lawful immigration need to be generated in proportion to the demand for labor, and policy reforms should include provisions for guaranteeing due process and for improving the wages and working conditions of low-wage immigrant workers.

At the same time, legislative reform is not the only avenue to upholding the rights of immigrants. It is also necessary to promote community development through grassroots education and leadership, and to combat structuralized racism, classism, and sexism to remove the barriers that prevent people from fully realizing their rights.

UUSC stands in solidarity with the American people, and immigrant communities and their advocates as they work toward achieving specific policy objectives that flow out of the principles we enunciate. We also stand proudly with those Unitarian Universalist churches that, with the support of the Unitarian Universalist Association, have courageously declared their willingness to extend support and sanctuary to individuals who may be unjustly targeted for deportation.

Links of interest

Interfaith Worker Justice - "For You Were Once a Stranger: Immigration in the U.S. Through the Lens of Faith"
This comprehensive toolkit analyzes the history and current state of immigration policy in the United States, and includes reflection questions, resources for worship services, personal stories told by immigrant families, and links to other organizations that focus on immigrants' rights.

New Sanctuary Movement
Provides information on the movement to support and offer sanctuary to families suffering from unjust immigration policies, and how you can join.

The Other Immigrants/Las Otras Inmigrantes
Read about STITCH, a UUSC program partner, which lifts up the particular achievements and struggles of Latina immigrant workers in the United States.