On March 12, 2019, Most Reverend Oscar Cantú, Bishop of San Jose, delivered the welcoming keynote at the 2019 Catholic Immigrant Integration Initiative Conference at Santa Clara Law School in Santa Clara, California. In his remarks, Bishop Cantú considers how the Church has and can deploy its limited resources and implement successful models of integration to better address immigration and better welcome immigrants.
The 2019 Father Lydio F. Tomasi, c.s. Annual Lecture on International Migration was delivered by Msgr. Arturo J. Bañuelas, Pastor of St. Mark’s Parish in El Paso, TX on March 12, 2019 at the sixth national gathering of the Catholic Immigrant Integration Initiative in Santa Clara, California.
On March 13, 2019, Most Rev. Salvatore J. Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, delivered a keynote address at the 2019 Catholic Immigrant Integration Initiative Conference at Santa Clara Law School in Santa Clara, California. In his remarks, Archbishop Cordileone discusses: the Catholic Church’s concern for men, women, and children “on the move”; common themes found throughout the Church’s pastoral vision and the conference goals; immigrant contributions; how changing US immigration and refugee polices are affecting Catholic institutions and integration efforts; and promising and successful programs and ministries with immigrants.
In this essay, Ingrid V. Eagly, Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, describes Juan Osuna’s many contributions to access to justice for immigrants. Osuna served on the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and then as director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). Eagly recounts his efforts to call attention to the need for legal representation. In particular, she details Osuna’s support for the federally funded Legal Orientation Program (LOP), which educates immigrants on their rights and provides them with self-help trainings and referrals to pro bono counsel. She also highlights Osuna’s work to secure counsel for particularly vulnerable migrants, including unaccompanied minors. Eagly’s essay is the latest contribution to a CMS series on the issues to which Osuna devoted his professional life.
This paper reviews the response of the US government to the growth in migration from Central America’s Northern Triangle states from 2011 to 2016. It also critiques the extreme border policies of the Trump administration, while recognizing that the failure of previous administrations to enact strategic, long-term changes in the US immigration system laid the groundwork for these policies. Finally, it reviews some of the lessons learned during the Obama administration on the need for a resilient and reformed immigration system.
This paper examines the characteristics of deportees from the United States and the effects of deportation on deportees, their families, and their communities. It analyzes the findings from 133 interviews with deportees at a migrant shelter in Sonora, Mexico and interviews with family members of deportees and others affected by deportation in three Catholic parishes in the United States. These findings include: 1) the deportees had established long and deep ties in the United States, including strong economic and family ties, 2) deportation severed these ties and impoverished and divided affected families, 3) most deportees planned to return to the United States, and 4) the US deportation system treated deportees as criminals and the Trump administration sought to instill fear in immigrant communities. The paper concludes with policy recommendations to mitigate the ill effects of the administration’s policies and promote the integrity of families and communities, including: using detention as a “last resort”; reducing funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); and limiting collaboration between police and ICE and Customs and Border Protection.