Where the immigrants are

Just click on the Interactive map in the New York Times.
HT Patrick Madrid

Catholic Charity workers sign for 16 year old girls' abortion

I was a social worker for Catholic Charities in New York in the mid 1980's. We were asked to uphold Church teaching on life and famliy issues, yet some of the social workers mocked such teachings and certainly didn't uphold them in their private or professional lives. What really hurt is that priests were sending parishioners to us in good faith that they would receive Catholic guidance.
So, the fact that a young woman being cared for by CC in Virginia not only brought the her for an abortion, but also illegally signed consent forms as her 'parent' fails to suprise me. At least the bishop has fired the workers involved and taken steps to re-educate the staff as to Church teaching, though it's probably the first time that most of them will learn it.
Read the entire story here.
HT Life Site News

Shocker: Pope Benedict's not a Republican!

Being a Catholic requires something usually absent in politics. Humility.
Howard Dean has a point, McCain should denounce the anti-papal comments of Tom Tancredo.
Dean Said. "If McCain believes, as he has said, that 'these are God's children,' he should not stand by silently as Tancredo or anyone else in the Republican Party continues using immigrants as scapegoats or playing politics with immigration legislation."
Former Republican candidate Tom Tancredo, like Lou Dobbs, was offended by the Holy Father's embracing of the Hispanic Catholics in the USA, and accused him of inviting illegal immigrants here to bolster the Catholic population here. It was a shock to some of my anti-immigrant Republican Catholic friends to see that Pope Benedict hasn't read Republican talking points. Or the rantings of Pat Buchanan. I imagine that Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly aren't thrilled either, but they have more class(hopefully) than to come out and criticize the Pope. I once debated Sean on his radio show about immigration and told him how unjust it was to deny visas to those immigrants who are already here. He conceded the point that visas are only granted to immigrants who have many countrymen already in the US with political clout. Like the Irish. The rule of law only applies when the law is just. God's justice trumps the Justice Department.
I have to tell this to those Catholics who have viciously attacked me on this blog for saying that legal status of a person does not diminish their humanity, and that President Bush was right to try and bring a humane solution to the scandal the exploitation of illegal immigrants, who already have jobs and want to be able to feed their families.
Did you know that, according to Fr. Benedict Groeschel illegal immigrants pay millions into a Social Security System they can never collect from, since they are working with invalid SS cards. We, the wealthiest nation on earth, can afford to admit them legally and as Catholics, we must acknowledge that they are our brothers in Christ, and welcome them. They will comprise half the Church in the USA by 2030. Either welcome them or lose them to the sects.
Pope Benedict knows this, happily embraces Hispanics, and speaks beautiful Spanish. You should have heard all the enthusiasm of the Legionary priests in the Seminary crowd. Most of them are Mexican, and more orthodox, on fire priests cannot be found. We are fortunate to have them among us. They will replace our aging liberal priests bringing renewed vigor into the Church. We will remember the Marian devotion of our European immigrant ancestors.

May God forgive us for our materialism which makes us reluctant to share our wealth with the neediest among us. Remember the Rich Man and Lazarus. The undocumented man seeking work on the corner is his modern day equivalent. Let him have papers so that he is no longer exploited by rich contractors. My husband who is from El Salvador made $100 a day making cement sidewalks for his Italian boss. A $20,000 job took one week, and cost the boss $2,500 in labor, the same in materials, and he earned a profit of $5,000 a week, for setting up the job, a few minutes of supervision each evening, and collecting the money when the job was done. His five undocumented employees did the backbreaking labor for only $100 a day. Where's the justice in that?
Just because Republicans are pro-life, it doesn't mean we Catholics are supposed to adopt the GOP Party line across the board. Being a Catholic means that we have no home politically, just temporary abodes.
Don't get me wrong, my Italian grandparents were Democratic committeemen, and I have never voted Democrat because of the abortion issue, and cannot until abortion is illegal and traditional marriage is constitutionally protected. But I am a Catholic first and a Republican second.
HT World Net Daily
UPDATE:
Some of my favorite Catholic blogs are abuzz on this issue. Go to Pro Ecclesia and follow Jay's links
UPDATE #2
A friend has alerted me to some substantive posts over at Rorarte Caeli with quotes from the popes of the past 50 years to support my position that Catholics must welcome the immigrant, and help meet his needs.
“'the Church in America must be a vigilant advocate, defending against any unjust restriction the natural right of individual persons to move freely within their own nation and from one nation to another. Attention must be called to the rights of migrants and their families and to respect for their human dignity, even in cases of non-legal immigration”.
Pope John Paul II

Happy St. Patrick's Day my montage Beautiful Ireland

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

One third of US counties depopulating

Although our national population continues to grow, largely due to immigration, there are places in the USA where the population is in serious decline.North Dakota, and East Texas, for example. In fact it's one third of the nation, which the coast types refer to as "fly-over country".

"We have near-record numbers of births right now, immigrants are flooding in. … So we have endless arguments about immigrants and smart growth while hundreds of counties are essentially being depopulated with no one noticing."
Read the rest of the article in USA Today .

HT Spirit Daily

Is Immigration Pro-life?

The Only State Claiming Our Loyalty Ultimately is the State of Grace
By Kenneth G. Davis
The Rev. Kenneth G. Davis, O.F.M., Conv., a Conventual Franciscan and former missionary to Central America, teaches in the Department of Pastoral Studies at St. Meinrad School of Theology in St. Meinrad, Indiana.
The position of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on immigration is about as popular as the Church's teaching on abortion. Although immigration is not as important as abortion, it is equally integral to the life of the Church. Catholics of the U.S. would do well to recall our own immigrant past, because that memory echoes Scripture: "You shall treat the stranger who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you, have the same love for him as for yourself, for you too were once strangers in the land…" (Lev. 19:33-34).
Three Principles of Catholic Social Teaching Human Life as Sacred Must Be Protected From the Moment of Conception Until Natural Death The sacredness of human life is not something earned by man nor endowed by the state. All human life is sacred because it is created by the Sacred. Man is both the privileged steward of creation as well as the unique recipient of revelation, although he remains always the servant of both and never the master of either.While the roles of Church and civil governments are and should remain distinct, the Church has a duty to proclaim the Truth to all, including governments. And the actions of any government, like any individual's, must be judged by revealed Truth.The Common Good Must Be the Goal of Any Commonwealth Recalling the meaning of "Common Wealth" (i.e., the wealth or goods of the earth should benefit all people) explains the proper role of the state in Natural Law. It is not unlike the assertion that humans are "endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights."One of the erroneous arguments of pro-abortionists is that the Church is only concerned with the child's birth and not with the needs of that child after birth. This is untrue and, in fact, why prolife principles lead logically to the principle of the common good. Every individual has both the right to life as well as the right to those goods of God's earth necessary to sustain that life. One denied access to those goods necessary to sustain life has been denied the right to life. So too every individual has the secondary right to migrate when that is necessary to secure those primary rights. Blessed Pope John XXIII referred to this as the universal good or membership in the universal society.Bishop Carlos Sevilla (Origins, April 16, 1998) referred to both rights, and Pacem in Terris (#25) and Populorum Progessio (#22), when he concluded: "The right to emigrate for economic reasons is rooted in this fundamental understanding that the earth belongs primarily to God. Secondarily it belongs to the whole human family and, only in the third place, to proprietors, who are, properly speaking, only temporary stewards of God's creation."Note the parallels between Bishop Sevilla's assertion and the Church's answer to the pro-abortion allegation, "It's my body." Just as a woman has rights over her own body, so too the state has rights over its own borders. But both sets of rights are always oriented to and limited by the principles of the sacredness of human life, and its logical corollary, that human life requires access to the common goods of the earth.Those rights are not endowed by either mothers or governments, and cannot be denied by them. Rather, it is incumbent upon us to work for a world in which all children are welcomed as well as sustained, and all people find the necessary means of life either within their own country or outside it.The common good looks beyond individual bodies and national borders to universal brotherhood, what Pope John Paul II termed "solidarity."Solidarity If all human life is sacred and merits protection, then there is a fundamental solidarity among human beings, an interdependence prior to any distinction concerning gestation or migration. One cannot defend life at any level unless one defends life on all levels. John Paul II says in Evangelium Vitae: "The Gospel of Life is for the whole of human society. To be actively pro-life is to contribute to the renewal of society through the promotion of the common good" (#101).As John Paul says, such a defense must be active. Our action can help the preborn child and the undocumented immigrant. Hence, our Episcopal conference insists on concrete action to protect all the most vulnerable human life, those considered disposable either due to institutionalized abortion or policies of xenophobia.
This is part of an article re-printed from the conservative Catholic journal, the
New Oxford Review

Update on Immigration Debate

Thank you, Alicia for stating so eloquently what I have always felt about this issue. It gives me great pain when fellow Catholics speak about all illegals as if they were hardened criminals seeking to do us harm. I have worked with Hispanic immigrants for twenty years, and they are usually humble, Christian parents who love God and are trying to help their families, both here and in their country; often at great personal cost. We should welcome them to out churches, and help them, not revile them. Their Marian devotions are unique and vibrant, reviving our sanitzed churches with color and song. Their love for children is infectious, just look at the Holy Father in Brazil!
Speaking of illegal immigrants, my Italian ancestors were often called WOPS. Besides being a racial slur, did you know it's origin? It means WithOut Passport. Someone must have been jumping ship!
My Irish grandma lied about her age to Immigration authories to come here and help feed her many siblings, and her sister came here illegally from Canada, a common practice in the 20's. How quickly we forget our own roots!

Illegal Immigrants get ripped off by our Social Security System

Before you pile on me, please know that I didn't come up with this on my own. Fr. Benedict Groeschel, no great liberal, yet faithful to Church teaching and to the truth, said it. On his live call in show Sunday evening, he said the following about sin, "we are guilty of robbing the poor in ways that we aren't aware, and this is a sin which the Old Testament says 'cries out to heaven for vengance'. "
He continued, "every year, illegal immigrants with fake Social Security cards pay BILLIONS of dollars into the system which they will never collect; they help keep that failing system going". The USCCB confirms this fact. So does my husband Francisco, who, as an illegal fleeing the terrible civil war in El Salvador, paid six months of Social Security he will never collect. Here is an article in USA Today confirming this fact.
So, next time a Catholic pundit (Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, are you listening?) tells you that illegals do nothing but rob this country, mention this fact. Yes, their kids go to school and get medical care. They are most likely citizens, and, even if they aren't, would you have them wandering the streets or die of preventable diseases right here in the USA?
Let me set the record straight, in my day job, I have worked with the poor for nearly 25 years. Illegal immigrants are NOT eligible for welfare. Do they still mangage to exploit the system sometimes? Sure. Did you ever file a homeowner's claim, or a tax deduction that was shaky? Let's be honest with ourselves,as Catholics, can't we afford to allow some of the poorest people in the world just get a job to feed their families? We who are overweight, whose homes are completely oversized for the 2.1 children we have, whose cars are big enough to climb the Rocky Mountains, yet never will, and whose cruise vacations rival those of the rich and famous. Why do we think it's moral to live like this, while children in the Southern Hemisphere die of hunger by the minute? Watch those World Vision Infomercials next time.
If your children lived where the water carried disease, and they had to scrape through garbage to eat, what would you be willing to do, to help them survive?
American Catholics are some of the richest people in the history of the world, yet we give a paltry 1% to our collection baskets in church, far less than Protestants. Yet our Church is involved in so many worthy projects to help the poor provide for themselves. Evangelization, education, health care, housing, there is so much your money can provide for the poor.

Mother Teresa told the story of a young Indian couple who, instead of the extravagant wedding which Indian couples celebrate, donated all the money to her. She asked them why they would sacrifice their wedding celebration, and they answered, "we want to share the joy of loving". I had a nice wedding, but since I've been married, I have supported several of my husbands' relatives through college. Was I always a willing and cheerful giver? Nope. God has blessed even my reluctant generosity, and He will certainly bless yours.

Here are some 100% reliable places to donate money.
Missionaries of Charity
Food for the Poor
Christian Foundation for Children and Aging
Franciscan Friars of the Renewal
Catholic World Mission
Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara

Senator Brownback announces Presidential Bid

Senator Sam Brownback announced that he is running for the Republican nomination for the presidency.
Brownback announces presidential bidSurrounded by family at Expocentre, Brownback takes the 'first steps on the yellow brick road to the White House'By Tim CarpenterThe Capital-JournalPublished Sunday, January 21, 2007Republican Sen. Sam Brownback opened his campaign for president Saturday by proclaiming the power of God to heal the nation's suffering and calling upon Americans to put divisiveness aside to meet challenges of poverty, abortion, war and cancer."I'm proud to be a conservative that believes in addressing problems, not ignoring them," Brownback told an estimated 800 people attending the official announcement rally at Heritage Hall in the Kansas Expocentre. "At the end of the day, it comes back to the basics: faith, family and freedom."The one-time state president of Future Farmers of America, who stepped with relative ease from the post of Kansas agriculture secretary to seats in the U.S. House and Senate, became Kansas' latest favorite son candidate for the White House. Securing the GOP nomination in 2008 will require Brownback to move beyond his conservative Christian base to overcome rivals with more robust fundraising experience and broader name recognition.Brownback, 50, said he was taking the "first steps on the yellow brick road to the White House" with "sincere humility and determination." He would offer himself as a "full-scale" conservative in the mold of Ronald Reagan, a Republican who served two terms as president.It was happenstance that Brownback entered the presidential fray on the day Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y, declared for the Democratic Party's nomination. Brownback joked that the timing indicated "she's scared of me."Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee released a statement urging Brownback to "reconcile his compassionate rhetoric with the callous conservatism his record shows." DNC spokeswoman Amaya Smith pointed to Brownback's votes to limit minimum wage protection for workers, to oppose spending for armored military vehicles used in Iraq and to reject funding hikes for veterans' medical care.Brownback, who has said he won't seek re-election to the Senate in 2010, entered a race that could draw as many as 10 GOP candidates, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.In a 15-minute announcement speech, Brownback vowed to campaign on behalf of Americans opposed to gay marriage, abortion, taxes and "pork-barrel" government spending.He called for the nation to end the scourge of deadly cancers, reduce reliance on foreign oil, pull families out of poverty and block the work of "activist" judges.The war raging in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has cost the lives of more than 3,000 U.S. troops, requires Republicans and Democrats to develop a bipartisan strategy for victory that matches the courage of men and women offering their lives for freedom, Brownback said."We must win to redeem our troops' sacrifices," he said. "We need unity here to win over there. Lives, and our future, are at stake."Brownback didn't mention his opposition to President Bush's plan to send additional troops to Iraq. Nor did he address his view, shared by Bush, that Congress should adopt comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for millions of people living in the United States without permission.Brownback, surrounded on a small stage by members of his family from his current hometown of Topeka and his childhood home in Parker, promised during the speech to not sign into law a tax hike if elected president. He proposed an "alternative flat tax," which would give people the option of paying one flat rate on income."We need a different income tax system altogether," Brownback said. "This one, the Internal Revenue Code, should be taken behind a barn and killed with a dull axe."Brownback said the "foundational institution of marriage as the union of a man and woman for life" had to be reinforced. Federal policy should support marriage, not tax it, and people shouldn't lose welfare benefits when they get married, he said.The underlying goal should be to halt wasteful government spending that "steals a family's income and then insults them by throwing their money away on pork-barrel projects," the senator said.He said the time has come to conquer cancer, which he proclaimed as America's No. 1 fear. He said it was possible to end deaths by cancer in a decade, a vision bolstered by a decrease in deaths from cancer over the past two years."It's time to put this killer to death," Brownback said. "With our intense effort, we can make it a chronic rather than terminal illness."Brownback said it was urgent that quality, affordable health care be available to all Americans. Anticipating unease among fiscal conservatives on that point, Brownback assured the audience this issue could be addressed with market-based solutions rather than through expansion of a government-run health care system.He set an ambitious goal of making North America energy self-reliant in 15 years. That must be accomplished while reducing carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, he said.Restraint needs to be applied to federal judges who go beyond interpretation of law to what amounts to formation of law from the bench, Brownback said."We need judges who want to be judges not legislators," he said.Brownback said the country would make a huge mistake by stripping God from public life and institutions, making reference to the nation's motto, "In God We Trust.""To walk away from the Almighty is to embrace decline for a nation," he said. "To embrace him leads to renewal for individuals and for nations."He said that perspective was no more important than in the country's stance on abortion. The senator believes the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion should be overturned."Let's start following our hearts and work to protect all innocent human life at all stages," said Brownback, departing from his prepared remarks. "It is all beautiful. It is all sacred. It is all unique. Let's guard and protect them."He said policy objectives outlined in his speech might appear lofty. At the same time, he said, history demonstrates that a nation's goodness could be developed inch by inch, day by day.The senator offered as evidence the work of obscure British parliamentarian William Wilberforce, who was a committed Christian dedicated to eradication of slavery in the empire. Wilberforce beat the odds by ending the slave trade 200 years ago, Brownback said."Our mandate today has a similar feel," he said. "If Wilberforce were alive today, I believe he would passionately fight for the dignity of every human life everywhere without regard to race, wealth or status. He would also feel compelled to take up the vital cause of renewing the family and the culture.""And these are our fights today," he continued. "We must fight for the downtrodden, and for the voiceless, and for the powerless. We must fight for freedom and justice. To do otherwise would be to betray our heritage."Brownback, elected to the House in 1994 and subsequently to the Senate seat vacated by Bob Dole when he resigned to run for president, said the United States required leadership that tapped into the innate goodness of a society working together."So," said the man who once dreamed of being a farmer, not commander in chief, "it is with sincere humility and determination to do good that I declare my candidacy for president."

More Pope Benedict XVI on Immigration

The Holy Father speaks the truth.

Archbishop Chaput on Immigration

HT The Cafeteria is Closed

Pope Benedict XVI Spoke Recently on Immigration

"Another concern which looms ever larger is that of the movement of persons: millions of men and women are forced to leave their homes or their native lands because of violence or in order to seek more dignified living conditions. It is an illusion to think that migration can be blocked or checked simply by force. Migration and the problems to which it gives rise must be addressed humanely, with justice and compassion."

Immigration Part III Further Clarification

To clarify my positions on immigration, I must state that this issue leaves me uncomfortably with one foot in each camp. But, as a Catholic first, I sometimes find myself without a true political voice in either political party. You read my position in the last posts, which by the way, is my interpretation of the Church's as expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
CCC:2439"Rich nations have a grave moral responsibility toward those which are unable to ensure the means of their development by themselves or have been prevented from doing so by tragic historical events."

Our extension of worker permits to those who are productively employed here, and have no criminal record is a form of aid to those poor countries with histories of malignant dictators, some of which we have actively supported in order to promote a worldwide balance of power.
To quote the liberal icon FDR on these despots, "he may be an SOB, but at least he's our SOB!"This pragmatic approach may be sensible foreign policy, but it is hardly just social teaching.
I don't agree with those signs held at the marches on the West Coast either. They have done more harm than good, arrogantly claiming that the Southwestern US is by rights part of Mexico. They lost the Mexican American War over 150 years ago, and the economy of the Southwest is far better under US control.
However, I honestly feel that these radicals are in the minority, just the liberal leaders who want to hijack this issue for the Democrats. I have worked with immigrants since 1988, and haven't meet immigrants with that bad attitude, just social workers (I used to be one, I know what they're like!).
The worst thing I can say about today's Latino immigrants is that they are easily duped by liberal teachers, and social workers into anti-life positions, so maybe the march leaders convinced the marcher that those signs represented their best interests.
I do support the sovereignty of the US borders, but wish guest workers permits would be issued to those who have been employed here for years. With nearly full employment, who would take these jobs they have? Certainly not the spoiled teenagers in my town!

And I have news for you, with the collapsing birthrate in this nation from non-Latinos, we had better get some new citizens to keep Social Security afloat to pay for my retirement in 21 years!
A pro-life icon, Dr. Charles Rice, of Notre Dame, and EWTN fame, in his must-read book, "The Winning Side", ends by agreeing with the above, saying, in effect that if this country becomes a little Latin America by immigration, then it serves American Catholics of European descent right, for having disobeyed Humanae Vitae (97% of American Catholics contacept, and the abortion rates for Catholics are very similar to those of the general public). We should thank the merciful God that these are Christian immigrants, and make an effort to keep those who are Catholic from being swallowed up by the sects, and the liberals who rush to greet them, and corrupt their family centered morality. Latino immigrants are overwhelmingly pro-life when they enter this country, but, studies show, this is eroded over time.
I worked for years in poor high schools with Latino immigrants. Here is an example of their moral judgement. Once, in a bilingual American History class, I did an exercise with my students on "how a bill becomes a law" by allowing the class to act as Congress, passing any law they wanted. Of course, open immigration was the first law, but the second surprised me. The students, mostly 16 years old, passed a law by a 29-1 margin, making abortion illegal in the US. This wasn't all, they gave the doctor the death penalty, and the mother life in prison for violating the law!! I was still stunned into silence by this, as the debate was progressing between the one negative vote, who, by the way was a European(Spaniard) and the 29 pro-life Latin Americans, One an outspoken Dominican said emphatically to her, "but, Maria, you're an intelligent girl, can't you see abortion is murder?" I told them to stay as pure as they are, and not be influenced by their liberal teachers. I pray they listened.

My Letter to the Editor of the Long Island Catholic June 14,2006

I get uneasy when I see my fellow Catholics, themselves the grandchildren of immigrants, speaking so disparagingly about “illegal aliens.” Let’s just remember, that, for most of U.S. history Catholics, regardless of how they arrived in this nation, were considered suspicious because of their primary allegiance to Rome and the wretched legacy of religious wars in Europe. The Know-Nothing political party, which had a majority in Congress in 1860s, had anti-Catholicism as its platform. This anti-Catholic bigotry lasted until the JFK presidential campaign and may still be seen today.

We Catholics are to give a better example to our nation. Hispanic immigrants are our sisters and brothers in Christ, not hostile invaders bent upon our destruction. By the year 2030, they will comprise 50 percent of our Church. If that frightens you, then you know how my Irish ancestors felt to see the great numbers of my Italian and Polish ancestors arriving in New York. Regulation of immigration, including learning English, yes, but prohibition and deportation, no.

Who else will pay into our Social Security System, since we no longer want to have large families? Whose hard labor will build our towns? Whose enthusiasm at becoming citizens will remind us of our blessings? Who will remind us our our often neglected devotion to the Blessed Mother, by their fervent piety and colorful feast days?

As a bilingual catechist, I brought four Hispanic teens to the March for Life and watched their enthusiasm for the cause of the rights of the unborn take hold. I feel optimistic, that with our expression of Catholic solidarity, they can be, as all immigrants have been, an invaluable asset to the spiritual life of the Catholic Church in the United States.
Leticia C. Velasquez

Why Immigration is Good for America

My critic hoodlum, who has come from his usual haunt at the Curt Jester, to keep me intellectually honest, has challenged me in the last post on the birth stats in NYC, saying that Third World immigration is a good thing, escpecially since most of them are Catholic. And to his surprise, I agree with him.
Pope John Paul II when he came to the US for World Youth Day in Colorado in 1993, entreated us to welcome the stranger. He never stipulated that they be carrying visas. So, I welcome immigrants to our shores, and hope now that Congress is Democrat that they can allow President Bush to pass true immigration reform with guest worker provisions for those who are here illegally(proving there's a silver lining to every disaster!).
Illegal immigration is unfair to the immigrant who is exploited, as well as dangerous for a country in the terrorist crosshairs, and we must protect our borders from those who would harm us, while allowing in the laborers we need.
Besides justice for the poor, largely Hispanic, immigrant trying to feed large families back home, I have more personal interests in immigrants. You see, I married a Salvadorean refugee in 1992, and we have three daughters. A part of our income has gone to support his 12 siblings and their families there, send them to college, and bring them here. Four of his siblings are here, raising families, working legally, and adjusting to this culture. Three of his sisters are currently awaiting green cards. They are nurses, and an architect(he attended his sister Juana's graduation from nursing school in El Salvador this August, see photo here).
This would not have been possible without 20 years of sending money home to them. My husband fled during the US intervention in the civil war in El Salvador, which, by the way, he supported. He just didn't want to be recruited into either side by force, and had to provide for his family.
He loves this country, obtained citizenship in 1998, and is working in the internet technology field. He worked his way there from a construction job, going to night school, and finally obtaining his Associates Degree online.His story is not singular. I teach in a Community College English as a Second Language
Program, and see hundreds of immigrants in the same path. They had to take circuitous routes to final exams last spring because of immigration raids here on Long Island which reportedly took parents into custody without regard to their children at home.
This is a topic which shouldn't be discussed with slogans and soundbites, or with emotional name calling. You now know what perspective I come from. Let's discuss this as Catholics.