PHILADELPHIA - December 19 - The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) vehemently opposes the anti-immigrant Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (HR 4437), which has been introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI). This bill does little to address the root causes of migration to the United States, or the underlying social and economic conditions of both legal and undocumented workers.

Furthermore, HR 4437’s suggested provisions create a punitive environment that extends beyond border security or enforcement of current laws. The bill is an assault on basic civil liberties, the constitutional values of due process and fundamental legal principles.

“If passed, the bill would permit the government to prosecute almost anyone who has regular contact with an undocumented person by broadening the definition of alien smuggling to include family members, employers, and immigrant advocates,” states Joyce Miller, American Friends Service Committee assistant general secretary for justice and human rights. “These provisions are likely to drive undocumented immigrants further underground and increase their vulnerability to exploitation.”

We call on Congress to engage in extended deliberations that reform the nation’s immigration laws, and create comprehensive measures that enable a process for the legalization of undocumented workers, the reunification of family members and ensure a fair and due process in the enforcement of future immigration measures.

AFSC’s decades of community-based work throughout the nation’s immigrant communities provides a singular perspective that is not embodied in the spirit or punitive measures suggested in HR 4437. Our experience reflects communities that greatly contribute to the nation’s social, cultural and economic vitality, and families who yearn to be fully engaged members of public and civic life. The Service Committee, therefore, calls upon members of the United States Congress to counter this proposed bill with actions that create long-term solutions, reiterate our nation’s welcoming spirit and its principled commitment to justice and fairness for all.

The American Friends Service Committee supports the rights and dignity of all people, regardless of legal status. Through its immigrant rights initiative, Project Voice, the Service Committee combines local and national work to strengthen the voices of immigrant-led organizations in setting the national agenda for immigration policy and immigrants’ rights.

Backed by an 87-year history working for peace, justice and reconciliation in troubled areas of the world, the American Friends Service Committee is a faith-based organization grounded in Quaker beliefs respecting the dignity and worth of every person. The search for regional peace has been a major focus of the American Friends Service Committee’s highly regarded international affairs work and the group has a long history working for peace and reconciliation in an atmosphere of war. In 1919, the Service Committee launched massive programs to feed millions of starving children in post-war Germany at the request of Herbert Hoover, then director of the American Relief Administration at the time. During World War II, AFSC provided temporary aid, housing and other assistance to Japanese-Americans in efforts to get them out of internment camps.

AFSC has worked in rural and urban development in Mexico and with migrant farm workers in California since 1940. AFSC’s U.S. Mexico Border Program was created in 1977 to address economic imbalances and document systemic human rights abuses in employment, housing, education, services and law enforcement.

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