Posts Tagged ‘Justice for Immigrants’

Jesuit Father Ted Arroyo said that protesting Alabama’s new immigration law isn’t an act of politics, it’s an act of faith.

“It’s challenging us to welcome the alien and show mercy to the stranger,” said Fr. Arroyo, rector of the Jesuit community at Spring Hill College, “because what we do for them we do for God.”

Arroyo spoke on August 27 to about 100 people gathered in Lyons Park in Mobile who sang, prayed and created signs expressing their distress with the bill approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Robert Bentley in June.

The law allows local police to detain people suspected of being in the United States illegally; requires public schools to inquire into immigration status of students; makes it a crime for an illegal immigrant to seek work; and makes it a crime to knowingly transport or harbor an illegal immigrant.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Birmingham to block the bill’s implementation. The case is pending.

Arroyo told the crowd to find out stories of their ancestors’ and families’ immigrations to new places. He also urged people to volunteer to help new immigrants in their own communities.

“If you meet the immigrant and welcome the stranger, soon enough they will be strangers no more,” Arroyo said.

Visit al.com for more on the protest.

Jesuit Father John McGarry, provincial of the California Province of the Society of Jesus, issued a letter on behalf of his province declaring that it stands “in solidarity with the migrants and their families in opposition to the enactment and implementation of Arizona SB 1070.”

In the letter, Fr. McGarry writes: “The enforcement of this law will unnecessarily divide otherwise peaceful communities along lines of racial difference and cultural suspicion, as U.S. citizens and legal residents with Latino backgrounds will likely be arrested. This law will needlessly and tragically lead to the separation of family members, in particular parents from their children.”

He goes on to say, “Most significantly, SB 1070 fails to address the concrete reality of our broken immigration system in the comprehensive, humane and just manner that the Church has been striving for in the Justice for Immigrants campaign.” The full letter is available online.

More Resources on SB 1070 and Comprehensive Immigration Reform from the California Province:
AZ State Legislature SB 1070 (AZ Legislature website)

“Bishops Challenge Arizona Law” (America magazine)

“Comprehensive Reform, Not Hostile Legislation, Is Necessary to Fix Broken Immigration
System,” by Fr. Sean O. Carroll, S.J., of the Kino Border Initiative (Jesuit Refugee
Service/USA website)

“Arizona Religious Leaders Call on Governor Brewer to Veto SB 1070” (Diocese of Phoenix
website)

Statement of Bishop John C. Wester, Chair of the USCCB Committee on Migration (USCCB
website)

“Arizona’s Dreadful Anti-Immigrant Law” by Cardinal Roger Mahony (from his blog)

The Justice for Immigrants Campaign to Support Comprehensive Immigration Reform

“Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope,” A Pastoral Letter Concerning
Migration from the Catholic Bishops of Mexico and the United States (2003, USCCB
website)

“Comprehensive Immigration Reform: A Call to a Month of Prayer, Fasting, Action &
Advocacy in the California Province of the Society of Jesus, ” by Fr. John P. McGarry, S.J.
(January 27, 2006)

As men of faith, Jesuits believe in the inherent dignity of all human life. Informed by this belief, the Jesuit Conference of the United States has a duty to work for comprehensive immigration reform, keeping the plight of migrants in our country at the forefront of the nation’s conscience.

Thought leaders in the Catholic community recently came together to create a new book with the aim of reframing the migration discussion by focusing on the human beings at the heart of it. Edited by Jill Marie Gerschutz, Migration Policy Director of the Jesuit Conference and Donald Kerwin, Vice President for Programs at the Migration Policy Institute, the book, “And You Welcomed Me” provides a crucial underpinning to the complex phenomenon of migration from the perspectives of law, sociology, economics, international relations and theology. The book highlights the values of the common good, human dignity and authentic development.

Below is a video recently produced by the Jesuit Conference that discusses the book’s themes and issues:

Posada, an award-winning documentary film written, directed, and produced by Jesuit Father Mark McGregor is part of the Posadas Project, an initiative through which McGregor promotes education and advocacy for immigrants.  

Posada is McGregor’s response to the American bishops’ call for the Justice for Immigrants campaign. The documentary was inspired by Las Posadas, the annual Mexican Christmas celebration. Free viewings of the documentary, which focuses on the journeys of three boys and a mother who immigrate to the United States, have recently been shown in Phoenix and Los Angeles.

The film is available for purchase at www.LoyolaProductions.com and a trailer for the film can be viewed via the video below.

Posada, an award-winning documentary film written, directed, and produced by Jesuit Father Mark McGregor is part of the Posadas Project, an initiative through which McGregor promotes education and advocacy for immigrants.  

Posada is McGregor’s response to the American bishops’ call for the Justice for Immigrants campaign. The documentary was inspired by Las Posadas, the annual Mexican Christmas celebration. Free viewings of the documentary, which focuses on the journeys of three boys and a mother who immigrate to the United States, have recently been shown in Phoenix and Los Angeles.

The film is available for purchase at www.LoyolaProductions.com and a trailer for the film can be viewed via the video below.