I don’t know, but it’s possibly referred to explicitly in some of the earlier bishops’ statements on immigration, as well as documents from the Vatican. The bishops’ document on Faithful Citizenship (a stickie in the CAF News forum) refers to “natural rights” (migrants, workers, etc) when discussing national issues such as labor and immigration.
That said, I must tell you that once again I was very disappointed in the bishops’ statement that you linked. (Thank you for that.
) The reason that I was disappointed is that, as with other statements of theirs and as with comments of individual bishops, there’s a lot of internal inconsistency.
In their 7 points, there was no mention, for example, of prioritiing whole families within the legal system from the get-go (not just “later”). One of the very worst consequences of our current system is that both the legal process, and obviously the illegal process, promote the long separation of families. That has direct consequences for the immigrants’ lives in this country, and for our society as well. Children who come here without both parents are at risk. This has been shown time and again. And in many cultures (including but not limited to those from Latin America), certain members of the extended family are crucial to the happy and ***moral ***functioning of the family unit; they provide the moral guidance and are also emotional anchors for the family. Both are Catholic values: morality and family unity. It is not my opinion that their point #3 addresses this sufficiently.
The second major flaw in their list was their scant mention of border security, and the elimination of it among their 7 points. Apparently they think that’s not part of immigration reform. I disagree, given that more options should be provided legally, and fewer illegally. Illegal immigration is dangerous to life and limb (not a Catholic value), produces poverty due to family separation (not a Catholic value), invites deception and explotation (not a Catholic value), and is a terrible compromise to the Catholic value of full justice. Border security disincentivizes illegal immigration and encourages legal applications, which i.m.o., should be expanded, as well as simplified. (Agree with the bishops on that!)
I agree with the point on guest workers (so do most immigrants!), and also on more effort spent on examining causes of immigration. Actually, we do know the latter. What we do not do is to take cooperative steps with other countires, and use effective pressure when we can to improve inhuman conditions in other countries. However, at least the bishops are finally including “root causes” in an official statement.
