Catholic Charities of Arkansas Educating Illegals on How to Avoid Deportation

Dennis Lee, director of Catholic Charities of Arkansas, said, “We are working with Sister Mikey and her office to provide ‘Know Your Rights’ information for people at risk of being approached by ICE agents. People need to be prepared in the event they are stopped or detained, and parents need to have a plan for the care of their children in an emergency.

“We cannot dispel the fear that many of our immigrant brothers and sisters are living under, but we can pray for them, get to know them and offer our support by taking to heart the message of Jesus in Matthew 25 that Bishop Taylor has directed us to — ‘I was a stranger, and you welcomed me …. As often as you did this for one of my least brothers and sisters, you did it for me.’”

Matthew Phillips, an immigration specialist with Catholic Immigration Services, said people are “simply terrified.”

“This is intentional, as most of the changes to immigration policy have been purely security theater,” he said. “The most effective means by which immigration was impeded throughout the years 2017 to 2020 was not by the creation of a wall nor increased deportations, but by the fact that fewer people were willing to try.

“Our office saw a tremendous decline in applications for citizenship and residency from those years because people believed that any misstep would lead to deportation proceedings. The same thing is happening now. The scattershot executive orders, the publication of numbers of immigrants arrested and the hostile rhetoric are an elaborate performance to instill fear.”

Phillips said Catholic Immigration Services is working to educate immigrants.

“Recently, we have started scheduling presentations at parishes and schools to update people on what has changed and how people can protect themselves,” he said. “In these presentations, we go over an immigrant’s rights when talking with the police or immigration agents, discuss the difference between valid and invalid warrants and give advice on how to avoid doing anything that might jeopardize oneself.”

Continue reading at Arkansas Catholic

TAKE ACTION: Contact Dennis Lee, Director of Catholic Charities of Arkansas, at dlee@dolr.org or 501-664-0340 and let him know what you think.