150 SW 13th Avenue, Miami, FL  33135
Phone  (786) 264-1708; Fax  (786) 264-1859
Clergy Statement on
Immigration and Work

In South Florida, our neighbors are very likely of diverse races, countries of origin, language
groups and cultures.  We depend on our immigrant neighbors who work the farm land and
perform a wide range of service work for our comfort and convenience in condominium
complexes, retail stores and supermarkets, hospitals and nursing homes, and in countless
other places. Our community needs to reflect on how we, each of us, support our
neighbors. One way is to enact comprehensive immigration reform legislation that
establishes a safe and humane immigration system consistent with our values. However, a
change in law will not by itself produce a brighter future.  We need to value the immigrant
working family as we value life itself.

Our diverse faith traditions teach us to welcome our brothers and sisters with love and
compassion.  The Hebrew Bible tells us:  "The strangers who sojourn with you shall be to
you as the natives among you, and you shall love them as yourself; for you were strangers
in the land of Egypt (Leviticus 19:33-34)."  In the New Testament, Jesus tells us to
"welcome the stranger," for "what you do to the least of my brethren, you do unto me
(Matthew 25:35, 40)."  The Qur'an tells us that we "shall give to the needy who
immigrated.  They were evicted from their homes and deprived of their properties because
they sought God's grace (59:8)."

Too many of our poor are immigrants considered “lucky just to have a job”.  While we
commiserate with the suffering of immigrant families who have lost loved ones to death in
the desert or immigrants themselves who have experienced exploitation in the workplace or
abuse at the hands of unscrupulous smugglers and others, we stigmatize them by calling
them aliens or “illegals”.  

As religious leaders, we will aggressively educate our community on the benefits of
immigration and strengthen public opinion about the positive contributions of our current
as well as previous immigrants. The net benefit of immigration to the U.S. is nearly $10
billion annually.  As Alan Greenspan points out, 70% of immigrants arrive in prime working
age.  That means we haven’t spent a penny on their education, yet they are transplanted
into our workforce and will contribute $500 billion toward our social security system over
the next 20 years.  Many will never see a penny of this money if we don’t have immigration
reform.

As in Leviticus 23:22 - "When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very
edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.  Leave them for the poor and
the alien (Italics mine). I am the Lord your God. (NIV)".  The poor and the alien have
always been related in our faith traditions.  It seems that the poor as well as the aliens
among us are the un-enfranchised.  That is why the faith community needs to "speak for
the poor and needy" (Proverbs 31:9).  

As religious leaders we advocate for the application and improvement of our federal labor
laws so that ALL workers rights for ALL workers are respected, including their right to
organize, and that our local labor standards reflect the need to have family sustainable
employment.  ALL workers have rights and it is up to the community to make sure that
they are respected.  While we look to our political leadership to redress the wrongs of
keeping many millions of valuable immigrant workers in a parallel universe, we have to look
to ourselves and our own actions to see God in everyone and honor his creation by making
work holy. Spanish