Letter
Letter to House Ways and Means on Child Tax Credit and Immigrants, 2012
Letter from Bishop Stephen E. Blaire to House Ways and Means on Child Tax Credit and Immigrants, April 17, 2012
"As you prepare your response to the reconciliation instructions contained in the Fiscal Year 2013 budget resolution, I wish to renew our strong opposition to unfair proposals that would alter the Child Tax Credit to exclude children of hard-working, immigrant families.
The bishops’ conference has long supported the Child Tax Credit because it is pro-work, profamily, and one of the most effective antipoverty programs in our nation. In 2009, 2.3 million people, including 1.3 million children, were kept out of poverty by the Child Tax Credit. Proposals to deny the credit to children of working poor immigrant families--the large majority of whom are American citizens--would hurt vulnerable kids, increase poverty, and would not advance the common good. To exclude these children who are American citizens from the Child Tax Credit is unjust and wrong. We urge you to actively and publically oppose such measures. "