Mexican bishops call on presidential candidates to offer solutions to immigration problem

Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 29, 2006 / 22:00 pm

In a statement released on Wednesday, the bishops of Mexico called on presidential candidates to offer “concrete plans for the short, medium and long term” for dealing with the problem of immigration, rather than simply pointing out the problem.

In their statement the bishops argue that “to try to stop immigration with different types of ‘barriers’ is impossible” and that “dialogue and thorough solutions,” taking into account the “specific contribution that immigration can offer for world peace,” are what is truly needed.

“The United States,” the bishops continued, “has recognized in practice that it depends on the Mexican worker to keep the economy healthy.  Therefore, it should make a special efforts to establish the legal means for Mexican workers there to find jobs that provide an appropriate wage and just employment benefits and protections, in order to live with dignity.”

“Regulating the flow of immigrants between countries is a process,” the bishops added.  “We cannot lose site of our responsibility to carry out structural reforms so that Mexicans can experience in our country the basic conditions necessary to live with dignity in whatever profession they choose,” they said.

The statement, which was signed by the president of the Bishops’ Conference of Mexico, Bishop Jose Guadalupe Martin Rabago, and Conference secretary, Bishop Carlos Aguiar Retes, calls for cooperation by everyone to “seek out solutions together,” so that “the rights of our brothers and sisters who are seeking a better life are recognized” and “justice is served.”