This morning at about 7:20am a reporter from the Macon Telegraph asked me, “Father, why do religious groups take such an interest on illegal immigration?”
We had just watched two buses leave the parking lot of New Hope International Church heading north to Atlanta to join thousands of men and women to protest the new Georgia immigration law. Almost all the people on board were my parishoners. Before their departure I said a few words and led them in a prayer. The pastor of New Hope followed with a brief prayer.
I responded to the reporter (paraphrasing my answer), “Religious groups take an interest because this is an issue of human dignity and human respect. It is the same principle that makes us defend the rights of the unborn, the rights of the elderly with terminal illnesses, those in prison etc. It must be clear that the Catholic Church is not for illegal immigration. The Catholic Church speaks up because the dignity of a group of people is being disrespected. The government has the ability to defend its borders and determine who can and who cannot enter the country, but we do not speak of these issues. We only speak of the treatment they receive here.”
I continued to tell her how the current immigration system often separates families. So often a husband is detained and deported leaving behind a wife and several children. The wife then relies on help from the Church and friends to continue until she can reconsider her future path. After a raid at a factory or any work place, the Catholic Church is often left with a high number of terrified wives and children to look after.
Children who are US citizens live in constant fear that any day their parents may be deported and they will be abandoned, sent to a foreign nation (which is not their own) or put in foster care. Imagine being born here, being a US citizen, speaking very little Spanish and at age 16 you have to move to Mexico because your parents got deported.
As a priest I hear of the hardships and injustices many immigrants suffer. Some people say, “if they’re unhappy here, let them go home.” Listen to what a lady said to me three weeks ago, “Father, here I am not wanted, if I return to my village in Mexico, more than likely I’ll be killed from the drug violence. When will I find a place where I am at home?” More than immigrants, we are often dealing with displaced people.
I told the 80 or so people before they left for Atlanta that no one can take away our dignity as human beings because that dignity is given to us by God, not the government. Legal or illegal, we are all children of God.
Even though legislators will probably not pay too much attention to the march since most of those marching cannot vote, it is good for immigrants to have their voice heard. One can speak up, but it is up to the other to listen.
[Pictures from the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/thousands-rally-against-ga-996142.html]
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