issued by the American Solidarity Party of California

The American Solidarity Party’s platform is “founded on the belief that all people are created with an equal and inviolable dignity before God”, possessing the sacred character of the imago Dei. All of our policy positions flow from this unshakable foundation.

The dignity and flourishing of the human person informs the human need for faith, family, community, and the state itself. We believe that people are made for communion and for solidarity. Our party’s commitment to the “common good” pertains to every kind of human society, from the family to the neighborhood, from the region to the nation, and beyond, to the community of nations and the world. We do not believe that the authentic good of one society is only possible at the expense of another. Furthermore, our tradition forbids the use of evil means no matter how good or desirable the ends.

We strongly condemn the indiscriminate mass deportations of immigrants with irregular or undocumented legal status.

Some deportations are undoubtedly justified, such as those found to be involved in violent crime, terrorist organizations, drug cartels, or human trafficking. But these constitute a minority of those detained and deported in the last 12 months.

The deportation of those who are long established in this country, with families and jobs and responsibilities, who are contributing members of their communities and schools and churches, to places they have never called home or haven’t lived for decades, is fundamentally unjust. The traumatic separation of children from parents, wives from husbands, and the sick and elderly from those who care for them, shocks our consciences and cries out to heaven.

The deportation of asylum-seekers who have followed all the rules, and whose lives and livelihood are threatened in their countries of origin, is similarly unconscionable. The average asylum case takes about four years to process, but many stretch out to a decade or longer. The sudden and arbitrary revocation of Temporary Protected Status for millions of people fleeing extreme hardship is likewise inexcusable.

Most of our long-established migrants came to this country when, due to our perceived need for migrant workers, lax border enforcement was the unofficial policy of the U.S. government. This goes back more than 50 years. The situation for these migrants was ambiguous. The law said “no”, but American employers said “yes”, and the lax enforcement said “we’re looking the other way”. This is more the fault of the U.S. government than the fault of the migrants themselves, who are often destitute and desperate upon arrival.

We condemn as well the shocking vilification of these immigrants, and the expressions of mockery and glee at their suffering, in this administration’s official and unofficial communications. We condemn this administration’s cruel and terroristic methods of arrest, striking fear and panic among our own neighbors, friends, and even family members. We condemn the inhumane conditions reported in many detention centers, the restrictions placed on clergy, and the appalling lack of transparency.

St. Thomas also reminds us that, even in the enforcement of a just law, “an act may be rendered unlawful, if it be out of proportion to the end”. We note that the deportation of peaceful, productive, long-established residents is radically out of proportion to the transgression of unlawful immigration under extreme duress, especially given the mixed signals of the U.S. government.

We call for a moratorium on all deportations of irregular migrants who: 1) have been here for five or more years and have no criminal convictions; 2) arrived in the U.S. as children; 3) have American citizens who depend on them for familial or material support; and 4) have complied with, or credibly attempted to comply with, the complicated rules of asylum. We call for an accessible path to permanent legal residency for those who meet these criteria, unless their asylum case is pending. We call on the U.S. Congress to immediately begin the work of reforming our immigration laws so that border security and enforcement is balanced by just and humane treatment of migrants. We call for immediately hiring enough qualified judges to resolve all asylum cases within 18 months of application.

We take seriously the command of Jesus to “love your neighbor as yourself”. In the United States, a policy of mass deportations can only succeed if we harden our hearts against our neighbors. And indeed that is what we are seeing: callousness and cruelty metastasizing in our society. Most importantly, we pray that our fellow Americans will look upon their neighbors with compassion and kindness, no matter their immigration status or political views, and that we will become a nation worthy of God’s favor and protection. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”