Immigration Reform 2014: Catholic Leaders Push for Immigration Reform at Arizona-Mexico Border

A group of Catholic leaders from across the country gathered at Arizona's border with Mexico to urge Congress to pass immigration reform on Monday and Tuesday.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston, called on Congress to pass an immigration overhaul this year while speaking at a mass held by the border fence Tuesday morning, USA Today reports.

"The system is broken, causes terrible suffering and is a waste of human resources," O'Malley said.

O'Malley was joined by eight other members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and 17 priests. The clergymen gave communion to people on the other side of the border fence who held their hands out through the slits in the fence.

"We see this as a moral issue, as an ethical issue," said Bishop Gerald Kicanas of the Tucson Diocese. He also said they are worried about the deaths of immigrants in the desert as well as "the families who separated because of deportations."

Many immigrants perish each year in the desert while trying to cross into the United States along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico.

The Catholic leaders said immigrants are trying to find better lives in the U.S., but members of Congress are ignoring their suffering.

"What we fail to remember in this debate is the human aspect of immigration - that immigration is primarily about human beings, not economic or social issues," said Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle and chairman of the conference's Committee on Migration. "Those who have died, and those deported each day, have the same value and innate God-given dignity as all persons, yet we ignore their suffering and their deaths."

The Committee on Migration, which supports a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, called on Catholics to pray, fast and push for immigration reform on Friday. They urged Catholics to send emails to members of Congress that ask for an overhaul to the immigration system.

The bishops also visited an aid center for migrants on Monday, and toured the border with the U.S. Border Patrol. They also planned visits to the federal courthouse in Tucson to observe deportation hearings, and to the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office to see the remains of migrants who died trying to cross into the states.

Congress is still not heeding the call of immigration advocates. The Senate-passed bill remains stalled in the Republican-controlled House.

House Democrats tried to force a vote on immigration reform last week with a discharge petition, but their effort will most likely fail due to Republicans' opposition to passing immigration reform during an election year.