The Los Angeles Council of Religious Leaders, which includes my own Bishop Minerva Carcaño, has called for a weekend long prayer vigil for unaccompanied migrant children. The vigil begins at sunset tonight and concludes at sunset on Sunday. Whatever we might think about what our nations immigration system ought to be and do, there can be no doubt that something has gone horribly wrong when so many children are crossing our borders and being detained, many no older than toddlers. They are not illegal aliens, they are children tragically caught up in political and economic crises they did not cause and over which they have no control. There are those who blame the Obama administration for the crisis, claiming that his decision to make room in this country for the DREAMERS unreasonably raised the hopes of young people and their parents in Central American countries. This is clearly political nonsense. No president in recent history has caused more pain and suffering to immigrant families than this one. He has done precious little to raise anyones hopes and dreams. The border is now more militarized than it has ever been. It is time for us to look seriously at why loving mothers and fathers are sending their children on incredibly treacherous journeys to the US. Is it not because they perceive the extreme poverty and violence in their home countries to be even worse? So long as we tolerate and/or pursue economic policies that exacerbate the poverty of Central American countries and promote an intensifying climate of violence, there will be mothers and fathers who send their children as immigrants to our nations shores. The solution is not to militarize the border even more (which will, of course, lead to even more deaths in the desert), but to address the root causes of poverty and violence in Central America. I will be praying this weekend, and I hope you will too. I will a also be calling my congress person to advocate for a just and compassionate resolution to the current situation. May God guide us... and may we finally listen!
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 15:31:27 +0000
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