The incoming bishop of San Diego called on clergy to be present for immigrants on Friday June 20th, World Refugee Day.
That call appeared to have an impact.
From NCR:
Masked agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement scattered in the federal courthouse building Friday morning (June 20) when they saw a group of religious leaders, including Bishop-designate Michael Pham of San Diego.
The group, including eight clergy members and a local imam, was there to show support and pray with immigrants and refugees facing deportation hearings on World Refugee Day.
But unlike many other recent hearings, no asylum-seekers were detained outside the courtroom of Judge Catherine Halliday-Roberts.
“Like the story of Moses and Exodus, the Red Sea parted,” said Scott Reid of the immigrant-aiding San Diego Organizing Project.
Inside one of eight immigration courtrooms, two cases were heard that morning: a man whose case was continued and a woman whose case had been administratively closed for 20 years and reopened by the government.
Her case also was continued.
Jesuit Fr. Scott Santorosa, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in San Diego, briefed camera crews and other media members who weren’t allowed into the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse.
“Our presence made a difference,” Santorosa said, quoting an immigration lawyer who said their client was given more time to prepare for another hearing.
A local activist said any other day, two to four immigrants would have been detained by ICE agents and taken away in prison vans.
In fact, at least two white vans were parked on an adjacent street with no license plates but padlocks on side doors.
Pham, a Vietnamese refugee as a child, said ICE agents were “standing there covered with masks as we walked toward the courtroom. ” He said they eventually “kind of scattered and went away. No wonder people come in fear.”
Pham continued the mission of his predecessor, Cardinal Robert McElroy, also an outspoken advocate for immigrants before he left to serve as archbishop of Washington, D.C.
