With support from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Sen. Robert F. Bennett, R-Utah, sponsored an exception to the Immigration Act, allowing churches to use the volunteer and missionary services of illegal immigrants.

With the new exception, churches can now use illegal immigrant volunteer services without fear of prosecution.

"This narrow exception to the immigration act allows people of all faiths to fulfill their religious obligations,” said Scott Trotter, spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ. “The law permits churches to use the volunteer services of their undocumented members by insulating the churches from criminal sanctions for doing so.”

Churches were previously unable to knowingly allow illegal immigrants to perform volunteer or missionary work.

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R- Colo., chairman for the House Immigration Reform Caucus, opposed the legislation and has introduced a bill to repeal it.

“The exception creates a huge loophole in our immigration laws,” said Will Adams, spokesman for Tancredo. “It could potentially aid terrorists in seeking harbor in radical religious organizations within our country.”

However, Mary Jane Collipriest, spokeswoman for Bennett, said the exception does not protect immigrants from legal action, provide a safe harbor for illegal immigrants, or provide protection for churches engaging in illegal activity.

Both the House and Senate judiciary committees reviewed the provision to ensure the language would not offer a way for churches to harbor terrorists, Collipriest said. The Church of Jesus Christ requested Bennett to create the provision to clarify what church attorneys saw as a gray area in the law, said Mary Jane Collipriest, spokeswoman for Bennet.

“In the case of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, undocumented members are not benefited legally but rather in the availability of volunteer service opportunities, such as full-time missionary service, which previously the church could not extend to them," Trotter said.

Bennett’s amendment was signed into law early in November.



Copyright Brigham Young University 30 Nov 2005