This week in NY Carib News New York church Leaders promise stepped up immigration deportation battle By Tony Best New York church leaders are warning President Barack Obama to expect strong push back as the White House moves to quicken the pace of deportations as almost 100,000 immigrant women and children flood immigration centers around the country And the warning has come from the Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist, and other religious institutions that have a long-standing interest in the plight of immigrants, regardless of their legal status. They want compassion, not deportation for undocumented immigrants. The pastors and priests say while they understand the dilemma the President faces as he seeks to solve the crisis caused by the flood of at least 52,000 Central American children and more than 32,000 women who have entered the U.S., often ending up in Texas, Arizona and California but sometimes finding their way into New York, Florida and Connecticut they also want Washington to adopt a more humane stance that recognizes the needs of the victims who are fleeing violence, poverty and oppression in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras in particular. “There is no question what the church’s response to the current crisis involving women and children should be. It must be one of compassion, understanding and the protection of children’s rights,” insisted the Rev. Dr. Laurel Scott, Pastor of the United Methodist Church of Port Washington on Long Island. “The Church must work with governments of the Central American countries as well as with working alongside Washington to improve the conditions in the detention facilities “From a biblical and theological perspective we must welcome strangers into our midst as they seek a better life in this country,” added Dr. Scott, whose doctoral dissertation at Boston University’s School of Theology focused on the church’s responsibilities to immigrants in the U.S. “We must recognize the dangers the women and children face as they come across the borders. They are risking their lives to enter the U.S. and the Obama Administration shouldn’t simply be seeking to deport them. We understand and respect the president’s civic duty to ensuring respect for the country’s laws but we must also be concerned about the problems of the women and children face. . It can’t simply be a matter of deporting them to their respective homelands.” In a dramatic escalation of its border-control policy, the White House asked Congress to authorize more than $ 2 billion in emergency funds to reduce the influx of the children while adopting tough deportation policies. The Administration wants Congress to change the law to make it easier to deport children who have entered the country as undocumented immigrants. It is also sending more immigration judges to Texas to speed up the handling of immigration cases. At the same time, it hopes to build more detention facilities to accommodate people who been arrested and are awaiting their day in immigration court. The Roman Catholic Church, a strong pro-immigration advocate, has put President Obama on notice that it opposes his plan. “He is going to get a fight on this one,” warned Kevin Appleby, migration policy director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “It could result in vulnerable children being sent back to real danger and possible harm or death.” In Brooklyn, Canon Llewellyn Armstrong, a retired Episcopal priest who now heads an Anglican congregation, Ecclesia Today said a compromise that enables the president to meet his legal obligations to safeguard America’s borders while showing compassion and understanding to the women and children. “It’s a very difficult situation for the President who must balance between opening the immigration floodgates and welcoming people who are desperately trying to improve their living conditions by coming to the U.S.,” said Dr. Armstrong. “We are torn between opening the floodgates and caring for the women and children who have already entered the country and want to join their families.” The Republicans in control of the House of Representatives in Washington contend the answer to the crisis was tougher enforcement of existing laws and accuse President Obama of not trying hard enough to stem the tide of undocumented immigrant women and children. Aided by some Democrats, Republican criticized Obama, insisting his policies were too weak to deter immigrants from making the treacherous journey from their homes to the U.S. At the same time, immigration advocates complain that existing deportation policies were too harsh and the plan to speed up the return of more people to their homelands would exacerbate a bad situation. Representatives Hakeem Jeffries and Yvette Clarke, co-chairs of Congressional Black Caucus’ immigration task force have repeatedly called on Obama to suspend deportations until Congress has approved comprehensive immigration reform.
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 16:31:19 +0000
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