Bread for the World Delivers Mother's Day Message to Speaker Boehner: Preserve Families, Pass Immigration Reform
WASHINGTON, May 9, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Bread for the World staff delivered a Mother's Day card to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), urging him to bring immigration reform to a vote in the House of Representatives and fix the system that is tearing families apart. The Mother's Day card was signed by more than 3,300 people, many of whom shared their own stories.
"Not only does our current immigration system fragment millions of families, but it also it leaves millions more suffering from hunger and poverty here in America," said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. "As we think about the importance of mothers and the role they play in our families this Mother's Day, we must recognize those mothers who are unable to live with their children due to our faulty system."
Today there are an estimated 11-12 million people living in this country without documentation. Legal status is one of several factors contributing to poverty and hunger among undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants work more than the general population, but are more likely to live in poverty. In fact, one-third of undocumented immigrants live in poverty, and within some unauthorized immigrant communities, more than half the population is at risk of hunger, and it is particularly bad in rural areas.
Children are especially vulnerable. One-third of U.S.-born children of undocumented parents live in poverty. Immigration reform will significantly reduce hunger and poverty in the United States.
"The book of Leviticus tells us to 'treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt'," Beckmann added. "Repairing our broken system will require lawmakers—and Americans at large—to act quickly and with compassion to ensure no additional families are destroyed and that no undocumented children go hungry."
For more information, please visit www.bread.org/hunger/immigration.
Bread for the World (www.bread.org) is a collective Christian voice urging our nation's decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad.
SOURCE Bread for the World
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