The Mormon Position on Immigration Reform

Stop what you're doing. Go read THIS really important statement just released by the Church.

Now that you're back, let me note that the position advocated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is, I would argue, substantially the same position that I articulated a few months ago with one important difference: while the Church supports policies that would allow illegal immigrants to remain within the country permanently, it is not necessarily committed to providing a path to citizenship (which is how I had interpreted its earlier, more vague statement regarding the Utah Compact--and, I should note, this still seems the prevailing sentiment, even if the Church is willing to compromise on it).

The bottom line--and I'm talking to you, Publius Sakharov--is that "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is concerned that any state legislation that only contains enforcement provisions is likely to fall short of the high moral standard of treating each other as children of God" because the "bedrock moral issue for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is how we treat each other as children of God." To quote myself, "we ought to see immigration reform and legislation as an opportunity to reach out to and bless those of our neighbors who are suffering, and Church members should be able to respond articulately when others raise objections to comprehensive immigration reform; it's part of being a good neighbor."

Comments

Anonymous said…
Immigration reform well may be a way in which significant numbers of humanity may be blessed by being able to improve their standard of living. However, reform that seeks to give broad, unlimited immunity to immigrants already residing in the U.S. by its very nature removes the necessary order from a process that is in place to maintain the safety and peace of this country. The issue is complicated because it involves not only supporting the economy which uses immigrant's labor, not only trying to filter out those people who immigrate with good intentions from those whose design is invariably evil, it is complicated because in the end, this law is an imperfect way to compensate for problems only solvable through the application of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

P.S.
June 19, 2011 at 3:57 PM
Anonymous said…
It is, then, the formulation of such a law, balancing all issues and considerations equally, that becomes the challenge and job for our country's lawmakers. Let us hope they are more than equal to such a task.
June 19, 2011 at 4:00 PM
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