While millions of illegal immigrants flood the country, law-abiding Catholic priests could be getting the boot thanks to a Biden regulation change.
Five foreign-born Catholic priests, along with the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, are suing the federal government, including the Department of Homeland Security, to stop a visa allocation change.
The change, quickly made in the spring of 2023, reduced the availability of visas for religious workers. The new regulation means the five priests could all have to leave the country within the next two years if there is not a fix.
This will harm the people they serve, as many Catholic parishes are struggling with a shortage of priests.
The change means priests must “violate their nonimmigrant status or abandon their congregations,” according to the lawsuit.
The regulation only exacerbates a preexisting problem with the religious worker visa program recognized by Republicans and Democrats. Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) released a letter in November 2021 calling on immigration officials to address the backlog.
“For the last several years, religious organizations in the United States have experienced hardship due to severe backlogs in the processing of religious worker visa petitions and related immigration benefits,” the bipartisan letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), an immigration hawk , criticized the rule change in November 2023.
“The present obstacles that religious organizations face are unacceptable,” Hawley wrote to the State Department. “Sadly, it appears that religious workers are collateral damage in the Biden Administration’s push to expand ‘lawful pathways’ for individuals who crossed the southern border illegally.”
Priests are different from other immigrant workers for several reasons. For one, there is an established need for more priests.
Parishes regularly rely on one priest to oversee several churches. Because there is this established need, priests do not undercut American clergy and drive down wages in the same way low-paid STEM workers might .
“Because of the national shortage, parishes are left without resident Roman Catholic Priests, meaning that current Roman Catholic Priests in active ministry have already been forced to rotate to several different churches within their community,” the lawsuit states. “Such a shortage deprives Priests and their congregants alike of religious service and attention.”
Secondly, priests move into an established community.
They often live at one of the parishes they oversee and may also help run charitable organizations and schools. A typical Catholic parish might have a school or a Knights of Columbus chapter and host social gatherings. The parish might offer social services such as a food pantry or connections to a pro-life pregnancy resource center.
While laypeople, non-priests, might do most of this work, a pastor typically is aware of what is going on and may need to approve some activities. In other words, priests do not simply celebrate Mass and baptize babies but are also involved in the community via their parish activities.
In this way, they are also different from a single male who moves to this country with minimal ties and does not assimilate.
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Finally, they have a guaranteed job. The need for priests means that clergy will always have work to do. Except for criminal conduct, they are not likely to be fired by the diocese.
The priests are admirably following the law instead of simply ignoring it like millions of illegal immigrants do every year. They should be allowed to stay to continue helping Catholics and others through churches, schools, and charitable organizations.
Matt Lamb is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He is an associate editor for the College Fix and has previously worked for Students for Life of America and Turning Point USA.
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