May, 2008

In response to a recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in Pottsville, Iowa where 390 of approximately 2,300 residents were arrested and detained. Sister of Mercy Kathy Thill spoke at a press conference demanding that the dignity of all people be respected and their rights protected.

She said, "The immigration policies and practices of our government are disastrous. The inhumane way these raids are conducted and the negative impact on families and our communities is intolerable. The trauma created is a tremendous injustice. It is time to change our immigration policies and practices so that once again we become the nation in which the dignity of all people is paramount and their rights protected."

To read her full statement click here.

Media Matters Action Network has released “Fear and Loathing in Prime Time: Immigration Myths and Cable News,” a report documenting the harsh rhetoric about undocumented immigrants found on some of the most influential cable news shows.

The Catholic Church has denounced these ugly attacks and called for comprehensive immigration reform. Read more about the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Justice for Immigrants Campaign at http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org.

Nearly 400 people were arrested in a federal immigration raid at a meatpacking plant in northeast Iowa on May 12. Federal officials called it the largest raid of its kind in U.S. history. Archbishop Jerome Hanus of the Archdiocese of Dubuque issued the following statement.

The following is the text of an address Pope Benedict XVI gave to participants in the plenary session of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. The topic of the meeting was "Pursuing the Common Good: How Solidarity and Subsidiarity Can Work Together."