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CURRENT ISSUE: January 8, 2007 • VOL. 45, NO. 1, Oakland, CA
Catholic agencies aid Latino families separated
by Dec. 12 immigration raids
WASHINGTON
(CNS) -- Immigrants whose families were split apart by the Dec. 12 immigration
raids on meatpacking plants in six states are being aided by Catholic
social service programs in at least three dioceses.
Meanwhile, immigrants’ rights and Latino groups were among organizations
issuing statements decrying the raids.
Bishop Bernard J. Harrington of Winona, Minn., asked people of his diocese
to relieve some of the burden on families left behind after the largest
one-day immigration raids in U.S. history that included a Swift &
Co. plant in Worthington, Minn. Immigration agents arrested 1,282 people
at six Swift plants in Minnesota, Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Texas and
Utah.
“Families have been separated, children left without parents and
households left without a breadwinner,” said Bishop Harrington in
a Dec. 21 statement. “Families that have lost their breadwinner
now face a winter of uncertainty with no idea how long detainees will
be held.”
He said people of the diocese could relieve some of that burden by helping
provide food, medicine and money for heating bills and rent. He asked
parishes, individuals and businesses to add to the $10,000 the diocese
was contributing.
The Respect Life Office of the Diocese of Amarillo, Texas, quickly pulled
together a load of baby items for families in Cactus, Texas, who were
affected by the arrests at the Swift plant there. Just under 300 people
were arrested in the small town in the Texas Panhandle.
Bishop John W. Yanta and about 15 priests from around the diocese paid
a visit to Cactus Dec. 14. Among the questions he faced was “Why
did they do this on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe?”
“An awful lot of people are terribly dismayed at that and disgusted
that the authorities chose the most sacred day in the Mexican culture
to undertake this raid,” the West Texas Catholic reported Bishop
Yanta as saying.
In Denver, Catholic Charities asked for financial pledges to help the
estimated 700 to 1,000 people affected by arrests at the Greeley, Colo.,
plant.
“The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe raids on the Swift & Co.
meatpacking plant in Greeley ... might be legal and an act of law enforcement,
but they may not be entirely ‘just.’ At least not for spouses,
children and other extended families,” said a statement from James
Mauck, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of Denver.
“Through no illegal activity or fault of their own, they face an
uncertain future,” he said. “How will they pay for food, rent
or keep warm? Winter in northern Colorado can be cruel.”
He said it may take months for affected families to achieve stability
after having breadwinners deported.
Mauck said while “we fully support the enforcement and authority
of the government to regulate and control immigration” it was disconcerting
that lawmakers have not acknowledged that “current processes and
tactics do not consider the bigger picture.... There are human beings,
families, women and children, affected by these actions."
