Thread: US Catholic bishops condemn US immigration raids

US Roman Catholic bishops on Wednesday charged that immigration raids on US workplaces break up families and disrupt communities, without addressing the country's flawed immigration system.
"The humanitarian costs of these raids are immeasurable and unacceptable in a civilized society," Bishop John Wester, chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) committee on migration, said.

"I call upon the Department of Homeland Security and President (George W.) Bush to reconsider the use of these worksite enforcement raids, and without the implementation of necessary human rights protections, to please abandon them," he told a news conference.

"We ask them and the country, including the presidential candidates, to again turn their energies for building support for a comprehensive overhaul of our broken immigration system," he said.

The Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has focused on rounding up illegals in raids and sending them home since attempts to reform US immigration laws fell apart last year, said Wester.

In a single raid in Mississippi last month, some 595 illegal immigrants -- many of them Latinos -- were arrested by ICE agents, the agency says on its website.

In the past 10 months, thousands of illegal workers have been netted in the raids, according to news reports.


The bishops complained that the "sweeping nature of the raids -- which often involve hundreds of law enforcement personnel with weapons -- strike fear in immigrant communities and make it difficult for those arrested to secure basic due process protections, including legal counsel."

The raids disrupt communities, including legal permanent residents and US citizens, and brutally break up families, often Hispanics, who make up the largest immigrant group and nearly half of whom are Catholic.

"Husbands are separated from their wives, children from their parents. Many families never recover; others never reunite," Wester said.

"Imagine a child coming home from school and his primary care-giver is not there," he said.

But the bishops rigorously denied they were pushing for immigration reforms out of fear the crackdowns would whittle away at congregation sizes.

"The issue that we're trying to recruit and fill our pews is not based in reality. The reality is that people are showing up at our parishes, our social services programs, seeking assistance," said Latino Bishop James Tamayo, whose diocese is located on the border between the United States and Mexico.

Tamayo expressed support for immigration officials who undertake a difficult but essential task, but insisted that workplace raids violated human dignity.

"The Catholic church has always supported the right of a nation to protect its sovereignty and to secure its borders," he said.

"Such enforcement must be tempered, however, in a way that balances the national interest with the basic God-given right and dignity of human beings. These raids fail to meet this test," he said.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id ... _article=1

Wish I could say I care....but I don't.

I condem children being molestested

Originally Posted by steelerbabe

I condem children being molestested

Yeah, they sure are the pot calling the kettle black...

"The Catholic church has always supported the right of a nation to protect its sovereignty and to secure its borders," he said.

Then butt out and let ICE do its job.

"We ask them and the country, including the presidential candidates, to again turn their energies for building support for a comprehensive overhaul of our broken immigration system," he said.

The only thing broken about our immigration system is the enforcement of laws currently on the books due to the wink-and-nod attitude of this administration.

The bishops complained that the "sweeping nature of the raids -- which often involve hundreds of law enforcement personnel with weapons -- strike fear in immigrant communities and make it difficult for those arrested to secure basic due process protections, including legal counsel."

Nice how these Catholic bishops care so much for the families and children of illegals, but never showed any concern for the children their own priests were abusing for decades. I am so sick of these sanctimonious clergy daring to tell us what we can and cannot do to protect our nation from harm from these lawbreaking illegals.

"Husbands are separated from their wives, children from their parents. Many families never recover; others never reunite," Wester said.

If they really cared so much for the welfare of these invaders, they might consider speaking out against the conditions in their home countries that caused them to come here in the first place. But no, we are the bad guys for daring to want to our protect OUR children and family members from the lawbreaking illegals who rob, rape, molest and murder innocent Americans everyday. You never hear them speaking out against those tragedies, do you? Of course not, they only care about building up their parishes, knowing full well that most all of the illegal alien Latinos are Catholic and how they can benefit from them being here, regardless of the drain on the communities they inflict, let alone the countless crimes they commit against innocent citizens.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH NEEDS TO HAVE ITS TAX EXEMPTION REVOKED FOR MEDDLING IN THIS COUNTRY'S IMMIGRATION LAWS. AS FAR AS THE RAIDS CONDUCTED BY ICE BREAKING UP FAMILIES, THESE PEOPLE HAVE NO ONE BUT THEMSELVES TO BLAME. THEY ARE THE ONES WHO MADE THE CHOICE TO COME HERE ILLEGALLY. THEY WERE NOT INVITED HERE AND NOBODY SENT FOR THEM. I THINK THE BISHOPS NEED TO CONDEMN THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT AND THAT OF THE U.S.A. WHO IS LOOKING OUT FOR THE UNEMPLOYED AMERICAN CITIZENS AT THE HANDS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS AND THOSE WHO HIRE THEM? OUR IMMIGRATION LAWS ARE NOT BROKEN. THE ONLY THING THAT IS WRONG WITH WITH OUR LAWS IS THEY ARE NOT BEING ENFORCED. AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, OUR GOVERNMENT IS NOT WORKING FOR US. THEIR ONLY CONCERN IS FOR BIG BUSINESS AND THE ILLEGALS THEMSELVES. BOWING DOWN TO THE DEMANDS OF THESE PEOPLE IS NOT THE ANSWER. THE ONLY RIGHT AND JUST SOLUTION IS PLAIN AND SIMPLE, DEPORTATION AND ENFORCING THE IMMIGRATION LAWS THAT ARE ON THE BOOKS. NOW, HOW HARD CAN THAT BE?