Migration: Our story, our present

By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami

Archbishop Thomas Wenski delivered this keynote address at the Florida Department of Children and Families' 2015 Refugee Services Consultation, "Challenging Change," which took place Feb. 12 in Jacksonville. Many of the participants represented Catholic agencies that serve refugees throughout the state of Florida, among them Catholic Charities and Catholic Legal Services of the Archdiocese of Miami.

Thank you for your invitation � but also I wish to thank you for your work in assisting refugees and other people on the move. Migration has always been part of the human story � since Abraham, a wandering Aramean, left Ur in what is now Iraq. The Holy Family of Nazareth � Mary and Joseph and the child, Jesus � were refugees in Egypt. The phenomena of human migration is not only history, it is our story, and our present. Pope Francis made his first official visit outside of Rome by going to a small Italian island called Lampedusa � where he celebrated Mass with African boat people who survived shipwreck; and there he also prayed for those who didn’t. During his homily, he reminded the world that we are our “brothers’ keepers" � and he denounced what he called the “globalization of indifference.”

Such indifference, however, is not a recent problem. Here, off the coast of Florida in 1939, the SS St. Louis was turned away. It carried Jewish refugees desperate to escape persecution in Nazi Germany. They had hoped to be able to take refuge in Cuba and there await their turn in that time’s “visa lottery” system to come to the U.S. Cuba turned them away and so did the U.S. � the SS. St. Louis returned to Europe and many of its passengers later perished in the Holocaust.

The 1951 United Nations’ Convention on the Status of Refugees recognized that refugees fleeing persecution are vulnerable and deserve protection. States should not refuse them entry if that meant they would be returned to danger. The convention � and the laws adopted by the various states that signed on to it � distinguished between refugees and migrants: a distinction, which you all know very well, is easier to make on paper than it is in reality. In South Florida in the 1980s, Cubans were generally described as “political refugees” while the Haitians were dismissed as “economic migrants.” Both countries have lousy economies � because both countries have lousy politics.

If people are in a burning building and are trying to escape (like those unaccompanied minors crossing our southern border), you don’t lock the doors from the outside. If your neighbor is walking down the street and fears that she is being stalked, and if she runs into your house without waiting for you to open the door, that shouldn’t be considered “illegal entry.” - Archbishop Thomas Wenski

At any rate, while it is often difficult to distinguish between refugees and migrants, we should all agree about the basic humanity of all people on the move � and that vulnerable populations deserve protection. In other words, if people are in a burning building and are trying to escape (like those unaccompanied minors crossing our southern border), you don’t lock the doors from the outside. If your neighbor is walking down the street and fears that she is being stalked, and if she runs into your house without waiting for you to open the door, that shouldn’t be considered “illegal entry.” Who said life isn’t messy?

And, it does have the potential always to get messier. In South Florida, some of the messiness of distinguishing “migrant” from “refugee” and “refugee” from “migrant” has been alleviated at least in the case of Cubans by the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1963 � which basically gives a green card to every Cuban a year and a day after entering the country. Cuban Americans have for decades called themselves "refugees" but because of the Cuban Adjustment Act few have had to formally seek "refugee status" or "political asylum." Of course, on everybody’s mind is how and when the new relationship between the U.S. and Cuba might change the status quo.

South Florida’s three Cuban American Congressmen (and woman) last week went on record saying that they want to do away with the Cuban Adjustment Act. This is an example of politics making strange bedfellows, since the Castro government for years has been calling for the same. However, the Adjustment Act is one factor � and not an insignificant one � that has made the Cubans one of America’s most successful group of immigrants � for it has facilitated their integration into American society. Rather than treating Cubans as poorly as we treat other irregular immigrants by abolishing the Cuban Adjustment Act, shouldn’t we use it rather as a template to treat other similarly situated migrants as well as we have treated the Cubans? At any rate, what South Florida’s congressmen proposed would make matters worse, not better � especially for all of us here that are trying to help this population and, by helping them, help the larger community.

So I would caution that we move slowly on changing the adjustment act; but at the same time, we can work to tweak the migration accords between our two countries so that people who are desperate to leave can do so through legal channels. Our policies should not be to stop immigration but they should try to discourage “disorderly” migration. The migration accords between the U.S. and Cuba admit some 20,000 Cubans into the US each year � and have done since the mid-‘90s. It is generally an orderly "migration" (which some detractors have called "Mariel" in slow motion.)

If we did away with the Cuban Adjustment Act, like I said, we’ll treat the Cubans as poorly as we’re treating most everybody else, and the growing numbers crossing into the U.S. through Texas will just add to the brokenness of our immigration system.

A group who has received historically poor treatment, especially when compared to Cubans are, of course, the Haitians. Those Haitian nationals who arrive post-earthquake are again subject to expedited removal. Those who cannot establish a “credible fear of return” are summarily returned � without asylum hearings. We still employ the shout test at sea, in which a Haitian must show some sign of fear before they get a screening. This violates international norms � and ignores the deteriorating political situation on the island. We need to press DHS (the Department of Homeland Security) and the Coast Guard to change this process, so that all who are interdicted at sea are provided an opportunity to request asylum.

On the positive side, we are gratified that a Haitian Reunification program is being launched, although it may only apply to a limited number of Haitians who are in line for two years or less for a family reunification visa. This allows those who would eventually be coming to the U.S. through family petitions to come sooner rather than later. They would still have to wait for their green card but they can wait here and get a work permit in the meantime. We urge the Administration to launch this program and to expand it to those who must wait longer. Family reunification should remain a cornerstone of our immigration system.

I earlier said that if people are fleeing from a burning house, we should not lock the doors from the outside. That’s what we’ve done in effect to the unaccompanied alien children who have fled violence in Central America. The numbers have stabilized and gone down, no doubt because of the interdictions by the Mexican government, at the behest of the U.S. government. Now these children are being sent back by the Mexican government, without any chance for protection.

The Administration was prepared to change the law on these children so that they were sent back immediately, but advocacy groups and the Senate had different ideas. It has led to the creation of a small in-country processing program which only allows those with legal status in the United States to appeal for their children. Only a few hundred will be allowed to come each year. We can do better as a country.

Unaccompanied children will continue to arrive to our country � including as refugees, asylees, and victims of human trafficking. They are children from all over the world seeking refuge. They are children from Haiti, Afghanistan, Guatemala, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, just to name a few of the countries of origin. I am thankful to the State of Florida for providing a specialized program for these children in particular. This is unique resettlement assistance, not just in the U.S., but globally.

Of course, the most pressing need with regard to refugees is what is happening in the Middle East. At least 2 million Syrian refugees are spread throughout the region. There are now as many as 500,000 internally displaced Iraqis who have fled the advance of ISIS. Yet the U.S. and the world community is only resettling about 9,000 this year and only a few hundred in previous years.

Some say that the low numbers are because of our fear of terrorists. A similar excuse is used to justify or explain away the slow process of admitting to the U.S. Iraqis who worked for the U.S. military � and for these people this is a matter of life and death. Terrorism is certainly a concern but we could do better. Sometimes we think that we are overwhelmed with refugees � and the truth is, we are not; and certainly not when we compare ourselves with countries like Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan where those Iraqis and Syrians have sought refuge. (And if I could digress back to Cuba for a second, the administration is considering removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. I think Cuba hasn't deserved this classification for quite some time. The U.S. knows this and that's obvious when they worry about possibly admitting as a refugee a terrorist from Syria or Iraq while at the same time about 40,000 Cubans entered the U.S. last year without raising any worries about terrorism.)

Finally, of course, the best thing for immigrants and refugees � including Cubans and Haitians � would be comprehensive immigration reform. I again urge Congress to not complicate matters by ending the Cuban Adjustment Act nor to waste time trying to repeal the Executive Action giving deferred departure to some categories of irregular migrants in the U.S. Instead, Congress can supersede it by passing humane comprehensive immigration reform legislation.

Pope Francis at Lampedusa warned against the “globalization of indifference.” Today's boat people, like those 300 Africans missing and presumed dead this week, are our modern day Lazaruses who suffer in misery on our doorsteps. In the New Testament parable, Lazarus was ignored by the rich man; in the Old Testament, we read about Job who suffered perhaps a greater indignity, for he was blamed by his friends for his miseries. We see that indifference � and a strong tendency to blame the victims � in our nation's debates about immigration reform.

Migration is the human face of globalization which has shrunk the world. Pope Benedict said that globalization has made us all neighbors; but then he observed that it hasn’t made us brothers and sisters. For that to happen, we'll need to listen more to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John than to Rush, Glen, Sean or Bill.

Jesus in the parable of the Last Judgment says that what we do for the least of our brothers we do to him. To those who will enter the Kingdom with him, he says, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

Again, I thank you for your work in welcoming the refugee and the migrant who, though he or she is a stranger, you recognize as a brother or a sister to be embraced.