The United States of America is a country of immigrants. Except for the Native-Americans, everyone else can trace their roots from outside the country. The diversity of cultures and languages is one thing that makes the USA a unique place in the world. Currently, “most (immigrants), of course, are lawfully present, whether as naturalized citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents, resettled refugees or others with permanent legal status. But a significant share of the immigrants… are vulnerable to deportation, whether because they have no legal status or their legal protections could be withdrawn.”
With the prospect of deportations on any significant level, the whole country would be negatively affected. There have been various efforts to form coalitions of Christian denominations to respond collectively to the governmental actions to remove immigrants who are not a threat to the safety of the country. The commonality for those of us who follow Christ is that “when one part of the body suffers, every part suffers with it, for all Christians. We should also be clear that, as Christians, our concern is not exclusively for fellow Christians. We believe that all people, regardless of their religious beliefs, are made in the image of God with inherent dignity (Genesis 1:27, Genesis 9:6, James 3:9).
The current president stated the goal to have “the largest deportation in U.S. history.” He intends to not only deport criminals but others as well. This includes separating mothers from children which he deems necessary. The president signed an executive order signed on his first day after returning to the White House which states, “It is the policy of the United States to take all appropriate action to secure the borders of our Nation through … Removing promptly all aliens who enter or remain in violation of Federal law.”
According to the “best data available to make reasonable estimates of how deportations could impact Christian families in the United States, and then highlighted those statistical estimates with profiles of individuals within Catholic and Protestant congregations throughout the country, the findings are stark: Roughly one in 12 Christians in the United States are vulnerable to deportation or live with a family member who could be deported.” There are an estimated 11 million (and perhaps as high as 20 million) immigrants in the USA without proper documentation.
“(The) U.S. Department of Homeland Security is responsible for carrying out removals, often in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice, whose Immigration Judges must determine that an individual is indeed removable under the law. In certain cases, the law allows for officials other than an Immigration Judge to make the determination that an individual should be removed and then to carry out an ‘expedited removal.’” There have been reports of officials ignoring due process altogether. (https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/disappearing-people-without-warning-or-trial-ice-does-work-empire )
Because of the illegal raids, public protests this past week in Los Angeles, CA. have spurred illegal responses from the president to deploy the National Guard and Marines to quell the protestors. Now over 40 cities across the country have mobilized their own protests in solidarity with the protesters in Los Angeles. As of this writing, a federal judge has ruled that the president did not have authority to send the national guard and marines into Los Angeles but an appeals court has blocked the federal court’s ruling.(https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/la-protests-map-ice-trump-cities-los-angeles-b2769508.html and https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd62d8jp046o )
“In other circumstances, an individual facing the likelihood of formal removal may be given the option to repatriate ‘voluntarily’ at their own expense. And in other cases, individuals who fear deportation or for whom life has become increasingly difficult may choose to repatriate themselves, which is sometimes referred to as ‘self-deportation.’”
“Lawful Permanent Residents — immigrants sometimes described as having their ‘green cards’ — cannot be deported unless they violate the terms of their residence, such as by being convicted of particular criminal offenses. Similarly, individuals present on a non-immigrant visa could only face the risk of deportation after their authorized stay expires or if they violate the terms of their visa, such as by accepting employment on a visa that does not include employment authorization or by not being enrolled in school while on a student visa.”
“Temporary Protected Status Under the authority of a law passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, the Secretary of Homeland Security has the authority to grant Temporary Protected Status to individuals who are physically present in the U.S. as of a particular date when the conditions in their country of origin make it unsafe for them to return for reasons such as war, conflict, a natural disaster or a public health epidemic. As of September 2024, roughly 1.1 million individuals were lawfully present in the United States under Temporary Protected Status. More than 95 percent of these individuals come from five countries: Venezuela, Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras and Ukraine, though there are also individuals with TPS from South Sudan, Ethiopia, Nepal and several other countries.
“Early in the new administration, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem reversed extensions of TPS for Venezuelans and Haitians made in the final days of the Biden administration and terminated the 2023 designation of TPS for Venezuelans. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians are now poised to become vulnerable to deportation in the coming months, though these actions could face legal challenges.”
There are many Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in the USA too. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under the Obama administration announced a new policy inviting particular individuals — who had arrived as children (before their 16th birthday) on or before June 15, 2007, who did not have serious criminal convictions and who were either currently enrolled in school or had graduated from school, among other requirements — to request ‘Deferred Action.’”
“The DACA policy has been notable because of the significant number of individuals who have benefited from it — more than 800,000 at one time or another. Because DACA was created by administrative action, not as a result of a change of law, it could presumably also be cancelled by the executive branch. Indeed, the Trump administration sought to do so in September 2017.
“Notably, though these hundreds of thousands of young people entered the United States as children, to be eligible for DACA they would have to have resided here continuously since June 15, 2007, at this point they are almost all adults, largely in their 20s, 30s or even 40s. Many have had children of their own: An estimated 300,000 U.S.-citizen children live with at least one parent who is a DACA recipient. Individuals with DACA could be at risk of deportation either if the (current) administration (or any subsequent presidential administration) would follow the appropriate processes to terminate DACA or if the U.S. Supreme Court would agree with the lower courts that the program was created illegally and, as a result, invalidate the policy. That would not mean that individuals would immediately face deportation, but they would be vulnerable to deportation under the law — and they presumably would lose the legal authority to accept employment and thus to provide for themselves and their families.”
The Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation dimension of our Claretian call impels us to act in urgent, timely and effective ways for our brothers and sisters who are living in fear of deportation. The Good News of Jesus Christ is needed at many different levels. We cannot act alone and must join other like minded coalitions, movements and organizations to accompany and advocate for the good of our immigrant neighbors. We pray that the Holy Spirit lead and guide us to God’s will in our service to our brothers and sisters. St. Anthony and Claretian Martyrs, pray for us; Immaculate Heart of Mary, be our salvation.
The various quotes from this article come from “One part of the Body: The Potential Impact of Deportations on American Christian Families” https://justiceforimmigrants.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/one-part-of-the-body.pdf
Fr. Art Gramaje CMF
