Welcome back to our weekly message! Here’s what’s new:
Last minute help needed!
Volunteers for our Back to School Bash for our 2 youth groups:
Friday Aug 18th, 2017
Time: 6pm-10pm (or part of that time)
Place: Brookline Teen Outreach, 520 Brookline Blvd.
For: set up, supervising various stations, and clean up
Please let Sister Valerie know if you can help by email: srvalerie@casasanjose.org
Action:
- Please join us at a prayer service on Monday August 21st at 6-7 p.m. at St. Catherine of Siena in Beechview (1810 Belasco Ave) in the upper parking lot (next to the church). We are gathering to be a witness to love and light in the world. Prayer has power, and our faith gives us hope. We are strengthened by standing together in love against hatred, racism, and violence.
- Talking points in response to: "They are here illegally. Why can't they just follow the rules?" We've found that variations on this question come up often in discussions with people and legislators who oppose immigrant rights. So we would like to to offer some talking points in response, one each week. This week: "My ancestors came here legally and waited in line - why can't they?"
- Many of our ancestors would not have qualified under today’s immigration laws.
- Until the late 19th century, there was very little federal regulation of immigration—there were virtually no laws to break.
- Before the 20th century, there was virtually no bureaucracy responsible for enforcing immigration laws.
- Prior to the 1920s, there were no numerical limitations on immigration to the United States, but certain persons were banned from entering.
- The first numerical caps on immigration and limitations on Europeans were not established until the 1920s—after the great wave of immigration to the United States.
- Every restriction generated unauthorized immigration.
- Many European immigrants benefited from “amnesties.”
- Taken from the fact sheet "Did My Family Really Come “Legally”? Today’s Immigration Laws Created a New Reality" from the American Immigration Council. More details in articles below. Also, try this quiz to see if you could make it.
Nothing we could say would be more eloquent than this video of Fernanda telling her DACA story at the demonstration on Tuesday at Senator Toomey's office. Please watch it - you will be so glad you did.
Fernanda is literally part of the family at Casa San José - she is Monica's niece and Jeimy's cousin and a great help to everyone. She is an extraordinary young woman, a 20-year-old rising Penn State junior with a double major in International Relations and Spanish. As a grateful recipient of DACA status, she is happy that it allows her to "have a normal life" in the US, though still without any stability, ability to travel abroad, or even eligibility for financial aid. She arrived in Pittsburgh at 4 years old and lived and went to school in the South Hills until heading for college. Everyone who heard her on Tuesday was moved by her beautiful statement, in which she said, "All I want to do is make my parents and this country proud."
DACA is the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy that allows young people brought to the US as children to get some protection from deportation and work eligibility. It is temporary and under threat until it is made into law. That law, the Dream Act, has just been reintroduced in the Senate and the House - both bipartisan bills! It has a chance now and needs all our support; here's why. Please contact your Senators and Representatives!
Suggested if you’d like to read or see more:
"Your immigrant ancestors came here legally? Are you sure?" from the Philadelphia Inquirer, June 25.
"The myths of illegal immigration" from the Boston Globe, July 25, 2014
Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America, by Mae Ngai, Princeton Univ. Press, 2014.
"No, Your Ancestors Didn’t Come Here Legally" Talking Points Memo, Nov. 20, 2014.
Thank you for joining us!
