Maryknoll Plug on Lobby Day

I lobbied my members of Congress on Monday with other Pennsylvania EAD participants. This was one of the first times I've been vocal in a lobby meeting - those in the fall that I helped set up for the MLM were largely observatory for me.

While I met with staffers from both Senators and my Rep., the meeting with Rep. Holden's Legislative Director gave me the most civic satisfaction. I lobbied with one other person, and she was well versed in the process. She had just been down in DC last week lobbying for eco-justice and provisions for climate change, so she already knew this LD.

Near the end of our conversation, where we both brought up aspects of our EAD legislative 'asks', Sandy (my lobby partner) brought up immigration. She has a personal investment in it since her adopted step-daughter is an undocumented young woman from China. Sandy asked if Holden was on the SAVE Act, which is one of the only immigration-related bills up for consideration right now, and Kevin said, yes, Holden was a co-sponsor.

At this point, my Maryknoll flag went up. In doing research on immigration, I've found that most people in our vein of thinking are against Schuler's SAVE Act, because it is largely enforcement-only, and it does not address the comprehensive elements needed in a full immigration reform bill. So MOGC, NETWORK, FCNL, and other good acronym-groups are against this bill.

I had already said that I was interning with MOGC, so I jumped into the conversation and explained that Maryknollers are often working with people on the other side of the migration movement. Our concern with an enforcement-only bill is that it neglects to consider why people may be migrating. Comprehensive immigration reform will not just pay attention to what happens at the borders, but it will think about our economic policies and trade negotiations. Many of the folks in the communities in which Maryknollers work are faced with such economic hardships that they're forced to make horrible decisions between two unappealing and unfortunate options: stay and struggle for survival, or migrate and struggle for survival.

This is paraphrased - I think my verbal communication of this was not quite as articlulate, but I got my point across. His response? "Hm..I never thought of it that way before." ... ... !!!!

There are 2 possible responses to this, but at the time I got really excited that I had done my job! Woo! Bringing (painfully obvious) education to my elected representative! The other response came in the way my housemate reacted to the story: "What? He had never thought of it that way??? We have an elected official who's never thought of immigration like that?" Indeed. Many of them. Lord have mercy.