The U.S. has a failed immigration system. Our elected leaders agree, regardless of political party or ideology. What they don’t agree on is what to do about it.
FCNL’s advocacy offers solutions that respect the rights, safety, and dignity of all immigrants, refugees, and migrants. Despite the challenges of advancing these policies in Washington today, we are continuing to lay the groundwork for a better way.
More Walls Aren’t the Answer
President Trump came into office demonizing immigrants, advocating more walls on the Mexico border, and wanting to arm more border agents. The U.S. has pursued these militarized strategies before—and our immigration system remains broken.
Study after study has shown that most immigrants don’t choose to uproot their lives and start over again far from their home and family. Rather, collapsing economies, political and social unrest, and need for workers in the United States are among the factors that drive immigrants to enter this country, with or without legal papers. Applying more force at the border and in our communities does nothing to address the reasons people are risking so much to come to the U.S. in the first place.
Punitive immigration policies are both ineffective and destructive. They have decimated border communities, sent children back into danger, and destroyed the lives of millions of people in this country and across the world.
Toward a Compassionate Immigration System
FCNL’s advocacy on immigration starts with a belief in the inherent worth of every person, regardless of their country of origin. From that foundation, we press for both short- and long-term remedies for the tangled web of our current immigration system.
Our immigration system desperately needs comprehensive reform. We must keep pursuing that goal, even when the path seems blocked. At the same time, we must be vigilant to keep the system we have from getting any worse.
Congress’ daily decisions can help or hurt our country’s ability to welcome and respect immigrants. Working with the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, which FCNL co-chairs:
- We lobby to keep immigration laws enforced by federal, not local, authorities, and we insist that border communities, including tribal governments, are directly involved in shaping border enforcement policies and practices.
- We oppose the militarization of our borders and the excessive use of force in immigration enforcement. This year we helped keep Congress from spending billions of extra dollars to increase deportations, detention, and border militarization.
- We protect Dreamers—undocumented young adults who arrived in this country as children—and advocate for a pathway for them to become citizens. President Trump recently made good on his campaign promise to cancel the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows many of these young people to live and work legally in the United States. Now we are working with both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to pass legislation to give this group of immigrants a pathway to citizenship. The United States derives its strength and character from the many peoples who have built it. Yet all too often, our county seeks to exclude and punish those who come to contribute.
Speaking at FCNL’s Annual Meeting in November, Executive Secretary Diane Randall challenged us to “imagine that those iconic words on the Statue of Liberty, ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,’ actually meant that we welcomed strangers, refugees, and immigrants to our country.” Our continued advocacy is what can move us closer to that vision.
