Monday’s U.S. Senate debate on immigration legislation brought protests in Washington D.C., California and many points in between. Reverend Rudolph Juarez, a Catholic priest from Davenport, took part in demonstrations in the nation’s capitol, handcuffing himself to another priest as a symbol of the criminal charges they would face for helping illegals.
Father Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities U-S-A, says the illegal immigrants must be helped through comprehensive, just and fair reforms. Snyder says “Our nation’s immigration system is clearly broken and in need of the right repairs. Congress should pass reforms that protect our country’s security and the dignity of immigrants and their families.”
He says there are some 12-million illegal immigrants in the U.S. who break our laws by crossing the border in search of a better life. He says “It’s shameful when our government policies keep families apart when we should be seeking to keep families intact. How our nation’s leaders fix this broken immigration system will say a great deal about who we are and what we value as a nation. This is both a moral and an economic issue.”