Out of the shadows

President Obama wants to fix what he's termed the U.S.'s "broken" immigration system to provide a pathway to American citizenship for around 11 million illegal immigrants. But what are the chances of this happening and and what impact is the current system having upon the lives of those undocumented migrants hiding in the shadows of American society? To find out more, Susy Hodges spoke to Kevin Appleby, Director of Migration Policy, at the U.S. conference of Catholic Bishops......

He says "it's a very difficult issue here in the U.S." and given the economic crisis and security concerns is currently low down on the agenda for both Congress and much of the general public. However, he adds that polls done by the Church "show there is strong support among Catholics for a comprehensive immigration reform."

Appleby goes on to say that the strongest concern of the U.s. Catholic Bishops on this issue "is family breakdown and family separation. What we're seeing here is immigration familes, over half of whom have U.S. citizen children; are being separated because the parents are being taken away ... and deported and then the families are separated." He says "that's why from a moral standpoint, the (immigration) system needs to be fixed."

Listen to the interview by Susy Hodges: