HELP OUR IMMIGRANT NEIGHBOORS

HELP OUR IMMIGRANT NEIGHBOORS

Even Newt Gingrich calls for a more humane policy toward undocumented immigrants. In our neighborhood and in our parish we have seen undocumented immigrants forced to leave the parish and the country. The Mission District of San Francisco has been home to thousands upon thousands of Hispanic and LGBT immigrants for generations.

The statistics are daunting. Ten million undocumented immigrants reside in the United States. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, a non-partisan research organization, 35 percent of immigrants have been in the U.S. 15 years or more, another 28 percent have been here for at least ten years. About half are parents of children under 18 years of age. And 39 percent attend church weekly.

Undocumented immigrants are family loving, hard working, tax-paying, church going and deeply rooted in the U.S. These human beings need a pathway to legal status. At present there is no reasonable way for tax paying, hard working immigrants to become citizens. The present system would make the family leave their jobs and homes, exit the country, move elsewhere, apply for U.S. citizenship, and then wait on an average of ten years for a decision. That is no option for people who care about the welfare of their families.

The Rev. Gloria del Castillo and Richard Smith of our parish have worked hard to help change immigration policies to make them more humane and sensible.

Here is a specific way we can take a step to help in this process.

HELP STOP THE SEPARATION OF OUR FAMILIES

S-COMM (“SECURE” COMMUNITIES) is separating families by deporting thousands of people each year inn California.

Join Archbishop Niederauer, Bishop Justice, Bishop Otis Charles and other faith leaders and congregations from all over the state as we call on Gov. Brown and Attorney General Kamela Harris to help STOP the separation of our families.

Saturday, January 28, 2012 / 2:00 PM

St. Mary’s Cathedral (1111 Gough Street, SF, CA)