Archbishop of Houston: Commemorate Thanksgiving with ‘Immediate Passage’ of Amnesty for Illegal Aliens

Cardinal DiNardo, the Archbishop of Gavelston-Houston and President of the pro-open borders United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) organization, says Congress should commemorate Thanksgiving Day with the “immediate passage” of an amnesty for illegal aliens and foreign nationals.

In a statement, DiNardo pleaded with President Trump’s administration and the GOP-led Congress to not only give amnesty to nearly 800,000 illegal aliens shielded from deportation by the President Obama-created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, but also to allow an estimated 300,000 foreign nationals currently on de facto amnesty to permanently be allowed to remain in the U.S.

DiNardo’s letter reads:

As we do every year, we will pause this coming Thursday to thank God for the many blessings we enjoy in the United States. My brother bishops and I, gathered last week in Baltimore, were attentive in a special way to those who are often excluded from this great abundance—the poor, the sick, the addicted, the unborn, the unemployed, and especially migrants and refugees.

My brothers expressed a shared and ever-greater sense of alarm—and urgency to act—in the face of policies that seemed unthinkable only a short time ago: the deportation of Dreamers, young hard-working people who should be the lowest priority for deportation; the anxiety and uncertainty of those with Temporary Protected Status from countries like Haiti, El Salvador, and Honduras, which are still recovering from natural disasters and remain ill-equipped to humanely receive and integrate them; and an unprecedented reduction in the number of people we will welcome this year into our country who seek refuge from the ravages of war and religious persecution in their countries of origin.

One common feature of all these developments is their tendency to tear apart the family, the fundamental building block of our, or any, society. These threats to so many vulnerable immigrant and refugee families must end now. My brothers have urged me to speak out on their behalf to urge the immediate passage—and signature—of legislation that would alleviate these immediate threats to these families. [Emphasis added]

Another common feature of these policies is that they are symptoms of an immigration system that is profoundly broken and requires comprehensive reform. This is a longer-term goal, one that the bishops have advocated for decades to achieve, and one that must never be overlooked. Only by complete reform will we have the hope of achieving the common goals of welcoming the most vulnerable, ensuring due process and humane treatment, protecting national security, and respecting the rule of law. We are committed to such reforms and will continue to call for them.

So this year, I give thanks for the gift and contributions of immigrants and refugees to our great nation. I also pray that next year, families now under threat will not be broken and dispersed, but instead will be united in joy around their tables, giving thanks for all the blessings our nation has to offer.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving all!

In September, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on behalf of the Trump administration that the DACA program would officially end.

Since the announcement, USCCB, the open borders lobby, big business interests, the cheap labor industry, and the Democrat and GOP political establishments have attempted to scramble together multiple amnesty bills that would legalize DACA recipients, while providing no relief to American workers who’ve seen their wages driven down by mass immigration.

"We join our Holy Father in declaring that a pro-life immigration policy is one that does not tear families apart; it protects families. Such a policy includes an equitable path to legal protection." – Cardinal Daniel DiNardo #USCCB17 pic.twitter.com/3quFBN1wzd

— US Catholic Bishops (@USCCB) November 13, 2017

This month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Secretary Elaine Duke defied Trump’s America First agenda by delaying the potential suspension of de facto amnesty for Haitian nationals.

Haitian nationals were originally given temporary protected status following a hurricane in 1999. Though foreign nationals under the TPS program are supposed to only be shielded from deportation for a brief, temporary time period, the program has become a haven for near-permanent amnesties for foreign nationals around the world.