Catholic groups across the country have been quick to applaud President Barack Obama’s executive order on immigration, but they are equally quick to remind that more work remains to be done before finding a “humane” fix to our country’s immigration system.

Among the groups responding…

Catholic Legal Immigration Network, or CLINIC. “It’s going to help close to 5 million people. But we’re definitely still working toward finding a permanent solution.”

NETWORK, a Catholic social justice lobby. ” … But tonight marks an important down payment toward a more fair system.”

Franciscan Action Network read: “We applaud this first step that the President took…We now call on Congress to provide relief for the millions of families who will still be broken apart by deportation and are looking for an earned path to citizenship.”

Catholic Charities: “While we are positive about the protections afforded vulnerable families by this executive order, there is undoubtedly more work to be done.”

U.S. bishops’ conference representatives…

Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, bishops’ Committee on Migration, wrote that the conference has “been on record asking the Administration to do everything within its legitimate authority to bring relief and justice to our immigrant brothers and sisters.” He “strongly” urged “Congress and the President to work together to enact permanent reforms to the nation’s immigration system for the best interests of the nation and the migrants who seek refuge here.”

Conference president Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., quoted Pope Francis, who wrote for the 2014 World Day of Migration last January, “Every human being is a child of God! He or she bears the image of Christ! We ourselves need to see, and then to enable others to see, that migrants and refugees do not only represent a problem to be solved, but are brothers and sisters to be welcomed, respected, and loved.”

Kevin Appleby, director of the bishops’ Office for Migration Policy and Public Affairs, wrote, “The President’s action would protect families from separation and end the trauma many children experience when their parents are deported. The bishops support the action because it will help end the human suffering caused by this flawed system.”

Source: NCR