Chicago's archbishop and a former senior congressman joined the chorus of religious, political and labor leaders urging federal lawmakers to overhaul the country's immigration system this year.
Cardinal Francis George and Dennis Hastert, the former Illinois congressman and conservative House speaker, both called on Congress to revise U.S. immigration laws during an appearance at DePaul University on Tuesday.
"We need to revise them so that families can remain together and will be able to work, free of being torn apart," George said during remarks delivered as part of a panel organized by the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition.
"Deportation of non-criminals simply must end," George added. Such removals, the cardinal said, can separate families and thus contribute to "a tremendous erosion of social capital."
"We should end deportations because they break up families," George told reporters after concluding his remarks. "The family is the basic unit of our society, so if you break up families deliberately, you're going to have a much weaker society."
Hastert, meanwhile, said lawmakers should pass legislation that secures U.S. borders but also provides a path to legalization for what he described as untold millions of immigrants who live here "under the shadow of the law."
"They are part of our neighborhoods, they go to our churches, their kids go to our schools, they work in our factories, they mow the grass, they dig trees, they wash dishes, they make beds in motels I mean, they're productive people," Hastert said.
"And our economy really couldn't operate without that group. Unless those people can have some legitimacy, they can never move forward."
George's and Hastert's comments came days after President Barack Obama pushed to "fix our broken immigration system" and "get immigration reform done this year" during last week's State of the Union address.
House Republicans recently unveiled guidelines for immigration-related policy proposals but have signaled they would rather address immigration in a piecemeal fashion rather than by voting on a single piece of legislation similar to one already approved by the Senate.
Read more:
George, Hastert call for immigration reform ...