Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Good News Is Bad News: An Interview With An Immigration Attorney

Good News Is Bad News: An Interview With An Immigration Attorney

Last updated on: March 17, 2017 at 3:42 pm by Mary Pezzulo

Good News Is Bad News: An Interview With An Immigration Attorney 2017-03-17T15:42:47-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

If you could write legislation and change United States immigration laws, what would you change to make things humane for immigrants while still keeping citizens safe?

I would start by suggesting that it’s not a question of humane treatment of immigrants vs. citizen safety. All human beings should be treated humanely, and immigrants are not — by virtue of their status as immigrants — a danger to society. Fundamentally, the question is: who should be allowed to come to the United States and, of those here, who should be allowed to stay? I have a brilliant colleague who recently left private immigration practice to open a think tank on open borders. He said that the more he has worked in the field, the more he has come to the position that migration is a human right. Although I suspect you will have a lot of readers who denounce this position, I think he may have a point. The more you look at immigration through a moral lens, the harder it becomes to justify excluding some while permitting others. This obviously does not mean that anyone who poses a security threat should be allowed in. I’m just saying — why does the brother of a US citizen get to come here? Why does a person who can invest a million dollars get to come here? Why the person who wins the lottery? Why not the person who has no family, but just really wants to earn a living picking mushrooms because it will support his kids and wife back home? Why not the person who believes her kids could eat more than beans and tortillas, or even live in a house with a toilet, if she just cleaned houses in the US for a few years? Why not the person who studied at our top university and is a few years away from discovering the next brilliant innovation in medical research?

Is there anything else you’d like us to know?

I’d like you to know that as an immigration practitioner I have to tell clients and potential clients every day the following: “Good news is bad news, and bad news is good news.”

The middle-aged single, childless man who has lived here since he was 18, works hard, pays his bills, cares for his bedridden, elderly aunt (a United States citizen)? He’s out of luck. His good news is bad news. Until he tells me that he was brutally beaten to within an inch of his life two years ago, and had to testify about it at his assailant’s trial. Suddenly, his bad news is good news!! He may be eligible for a visa.

A mother of three children has been living here for 10 years when she is picked up by immigration. She may be eligible for a benefit that could lead to her having a green card. But only if she can show that her children would suffer “extreme and exceptionally unusual hardship” if she is deported. Her kids are healthy and young and adaptable, so the case is going to lose. Until it turns out that one of her kids is diagnosed with an incurable, life-threatening disease. Good news! She might actually get to stay here.

A family says they can’t go home because they are afraid of the gangs that run their neighborhood. Gang members were threatening their youngest son because he was refusing to do favors for them. That’s not a very strong claim to asylum. But then… good news! The oldest son, who stayed behind with his own wife and kids, is gunned down in retaliation. Now they have a winner.

This is the reality of our immigration laws right now, for many undocumented immigrants. It’s not black and white. There are no heroes and villains. There is only humanity, or the search for it, within a really complex and contradictory set of laws that can be enforced with more or less compassion depending on who is in charge of enforcement. Under the Trump administration, if there is compassion, it is being kept hidden, quiet, so that nobody gets any ideas that this administration will be soft. And that’s unfortunate for all of us.

(image via Pixabay)

mourn with those mourn

news

politics

preferential option for non-violence

president

presidential election

Previous Post

March 17, 2017

Irish By Blood

Next Post

March 18, 2017 The Sixth Station: Veronica Wipes The Face of Jesus.

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said: "Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Paul Peter Jude James