The proposed law seeks to address the issue of foreign-born clergymen who are forced to leave the United States.
Watch: Local pastors witness the struggle of immigration
Pastra Maria Cabello leads a congregation of immigrants in the Sioux Falls area. Everyone is talking about something different.
Erin Bolmet, Sioux Falls Argus Leader
At Ascension Church in Orlando, Florida, the congregation was energised and invested in the direction set by senior pastors for several years. Then a reinterpretation of federal law changed everything.
Although Ryan Cook, pastor of the Anglican Church, was Canadian, a new understanding of immigration law meant he had to leave the United States and abandon the congregation.
“He was very good at his job,” said Pastor Canon Dan Smith, a bishop’s parish in central Florida.
In early 2023, changes in how green card applications for foreign-born religious workers are handled have overturned what was a rapid and predictable process for such workers to acquire permanent residency. The switch created a backlog where thousands of clergymen were forced to leave the United States and risked disrupting the faith communities they serve.
“Simply put,” the American Congress of Catholic Bishops wrote in a letter to Congress:
Many foreign-born clergy like Cook are already forced to leave the country to avoid overstaying their visas. Smith said the Anglican parish in central Florida is facing similar situations as several other priests. They are two from Canada and are from the Caribbean.
“Everyone knows it’s coming,” he said. “We lost a really good priest, and we could lose a couple more.”
A bipartisan bill would exempt clergy
This situation affects priests, pastors, seminary instructors and others who serve various ministries and faiths across the country. In addition to places of worship, the backlog influences foreign-born clergy serving in military, prison, or palliative care settings.
The bipartisan bill aims to address issues regarding the passage of the Religious Workforce Protection Act. This would extend the five-year limit on religious workers visas until green card applications are awarded.
In a letter to Congress in support of the proposed law, Timothy P. Blogio, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference and Archbishop of Military Services, and Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, who chairs the group’s immigration committee, said foreign-born clergy are important for large and isolated clergy, as well as isolated clergy.
“We cannot serve a diverse herd that reflects the rich tapestry of our society without the faithful men and women who come to serve through our religious workers visa program,” they wrote.
According to the Bishops’ Conference, the bill is supported by groups such as the National Association of Evangelicals, the Council of Organizations of the United States, the Rabbinical Council of America, and the American Foundation of Hinduism.
In Florida, foreign-born clergy members are the majority of Anglican clergy members, including a significant number from the Caribbean.
“I have a nearly completely Caribbean congregation, so finding someone who understands the culture is a real advantage,” he said.
Smith pointed out that Cook, an Anglican pastor, was fortunate to have a job offer from a church in England, where he was able to quickly obtain a work visa. But in the meantime, he and his previous congregations, like many others in the United States, face unexpected upheavals and uncertainty.
“We’re not just talking about individuals,” Smith said. “We’re talking about individual families and the congregations they serve. It’s 400-500 people. Now they’re in the process of seeing who the next senior pastor will be.
Federal government change created logjam
The roots of the crisis lie in the US State Department’s reinterpretation of how green card applications should be handled for foreign-born religious workers.
Previously, foreign-born clergy could work in the United States for up to five years on an R-1 visa, and applied for an EB-4 visa towards the end of that period, giving them permanent residency and placing them on the path to citizenship.
However, in early 2023, these EB-4 applications were combined with applications created on behalf of neglected, abused or abandoned immigrant children without raising the annual limit on category visa issuance. The resulting pileup expanded what once waited a year before advocates that could take 10-15 years.
“Because of the backlog, those applying today’s EB-4 category will be forced to wait more than a decade before receiving permanent residency in the United States,” the Conference of Catholic Bishops said.
As a result, foreign-born clergy have been forced to abandon ministries to avoid overstaying visas. Additionally, those returning to their home country must apply for a different R-1 visa for at least one year and send it behind the line.
Religious workers account for around 30% of the 150,000 people currently awaiting ruling for EB-4 applications, according to Evelyn Batista, an immigration lawyer in Palm Beach, Florida.
A 2022 survey conducted by the Catholic Project of 10,000 priests across 191 parishes found that 24% of Catholic priests were foreign-born.
David Spicer, assistant director of policy, migration and refugee services at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said the global nature and diversity of the church creates a need for the linguistic, cultural and liturgical capabilities that foreign-born clergy can offer.
He found that the 2024 US Catholic Bishops’ Research Conference relied on some degree of foreign-born religious workers, with the average parish reporting more than 10 workers and more than 50.
About 30% of the parish reported that at least one religious worker was forced to leave the country due to a backlog of processing, but more than half reported hoping to lose workers within next year. It is expected that 15% of the parish will lose between 5 and 10 workers.
For example, Nathan Riesman, the clergy pastor in Milwaukee’s archdiocese, said that the two priests would leave within a month as their visas were run out.
“We work with several other priests through the renewal and application process, but there is no guarantee that the same problem will not occur to them when the permitted temporary visa times expire,” Riesmann said.
But perhaps more importantly, Spicer said, was the number of congregations affected by these departures. For example, the Diocese of Boise expected more than 8,000 families, or about 36,000 Idahoists to be affected.
“It means more limited access to the masses and other sacraments, which are central to the practice of the Catholic faith,” he said.
Maintaining continuity is important for the health of the church, says Smith of the Anglican parish in Central Florida, which allows for a long-term vision and strategic planning. Rapid changes in leadership will stifle growth, whether it is mental, effectiveness or actual membership count.
“In the church, it’s all about relationships,” he said. “They take time and don’t form overnight. You can do more with a pastor you’ve had for three years than you’ve had for six months.”
“This is simply not sustainable.”
For the Catholic Church, the situation exacerbates the shortage of American priests, Spicer said. Some priests, he said, have served several parishes miles away. In addition to providing weekly services and providing sacraments, priests are asked to officiate at weddings and funerals and accompany hospital families.
Forcing foreign-born priests to abandon their congregations is not just a robbery of pastoral care from parishioners, he said. It increases the chances of burning out among the remaining clergy.
“The best case scenario could be that a whole new worker comes to fill that void, and that requires those same relationships to be adapted and built from scratch,” he said.
“This is simply not sustainable for workers, their religious organizations, or the communities that rely on them,” Spicer said.
Batista said the situation also exacerbates the shortage of military and prison pastors, and hampers efforts to provide military and prisoners with ample opportunities to practice religion, as the federal government required.
In September, the Catholic diocese in Paterson, New Jersey sued the US government, claiming that the State Department’s procedural changes violated federal law by preventing the diocese from providing religious services.
Last month, Sen. Tim Kane, D-Vilguinea and R-Maine Susan Collins were among a group of bipartisan lawmakers who proposed a religious workforce protection law that would allow foreign-born clergy working in the United States on an R-1 visa to remain non-criminals for a three-year period renewable until green card application.
Kane noticed this when he began to hear concerns from the Catholic Church in Virginia. His own parish said that two of the last three priests were immigrants. He and Collins are currently focusing on strengthening bipartisan support for the bill that is in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A version of the bill is also available before the House Judiciary Committee.
“In the current political situation, immigration bills are strict, but this is a narrow revision for a rather specific group of individuals,” Kane said.
Batista said the bill would allow workers to stay in the congregation without resuming the entire process again.
“This is an example of you having a bipartisan collaboration,” she said. “It’s rare to see that, so it shows how important this is to both parties.”
Meanwhile, Smith said the issue allowed him to hire immigration lawyers to continue his education on the process and its legal considerations, provide advice, and communicate the word of the matter to Anglican church leaders.
But it also changes the employment process for the parish.
“We stopped looking at people from other countries,” Smith said. “We could lose some excellent candidates, but we stopped until we got a better understanding. It’s not healthy to have a senior pastor who knows the congregation might leave in four or five years.”
