Dear Casa San Jose Amigo,
Welcome back to our “Action
Alert”
Please don’t forget to contact your state legislator about the pending PA legislation that target
immigrants and refugees, and would withhold funding from “sanctuary” cities and
campuses. It’s easy! Our friends at the Pennsylvania Immigrant and
Citizenship Coalition (PICC) are providing this handy link to give tips and connect you to their offices.
Mark your calendars:
on Sunday, April 2 at 2 pm, Sister Janice will introduce Rev. Daniel
Groody, who will speak on “Passing
Over: Migration, Theology and the
Eucharist.” Rev. Groody is a Catholic
priest, award-winning author and film producer, professor and Director of the
Center for Latino Spirituality and Culture at the University of Notre
Dame. The talk will take place at the Kearns Spirituality Center, 9000 Babcock Blvd. in Allison Park. The fee is $20 and participants can register at the
door. For more information, contact Fr.
John Oesterle at 412-232-7512 or johnoesterle2@gmail.com.
“Our story” episode 1: what happens when ICE comes for you.
Monica Ruiz, Casa San Jose’s
community organizer, described for us the other day what she has seen of this
harrowing experience. At dawn,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers hide outside your house, waiting
for you to step outside on your way to work. You are seized, thrown into a van,
and often driven around to pick up others, then taken to the ICE facility on
Sidney Street in the South Side, to be processed. There is rarely any chance to
contact a lawyer or loved ones to tell what is happening to you. Since there is
no ICE overnight accommodation in Allegheny County, you are soon removed to Erie,
or Cambria, or York, where quick deportation procedures are now instituted to simply
drop you on the other side of the Mexican border within days, with only the
clothes on your back. Your family has no idea what has happened until you don’t
come home from work, at which point they have no way to find you. Your wife, husband,
sister, mother, or child then tries frantically to get help, without
understanding how the legal system works, often without speaking English. The New York Times recently recounted many more stories like this, which are happening
right now in Pittsburgh and all over our country.
Thank you for your interest
and support!
