The Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement “seeks to make life unbearable for undocumented immigrants,” as Washington’s Cardinal Robert McElroy recently lamented. “It is willing to tear families apart, separating grieving mothers from their children, and fathers from the sons and daughters who are the center of their lives.”
Past Initiative dialogues have focused on the moral dimensions of deportation and other immigration policies, as well as the Catholic Church’s teaching around human dignity and solidarity. This Latino Leader Gathering focused on the way deportations have affected the lives of families and their communities. Schools, businesses, and churches lose essential members; children grow up without their parents or siblings; and people live with a fear of walking to the store, visiting their friends and relatives, going to work, and engaging in normal social life.
This conversation focused on the effects of fear-inducing immigration enforcement tactics, the separation of families, and racial prejudice resulting from the violent rhetoric and policing that have accompanied the immigration policies of the last year. It explored the impacts these dynamics are having now in Latino communities across the nation, as well as the lasting damage they will continue to do in the future.
This gathering had three parts:
6:00 - 7:00 p.m. | Welcoming Happy Hour
Meet and network with other young leaders over food and drink.
7:00 - 8:00 p.m. | Latino Leader Gathering
A conversation on “‘Making Life Unbearable’: The Impacts of Immigration Enforcement on Families and Communities” with four leaders.
8:00 - 9:00 p.m. | Reception
Continue the conversation with other young leaders over food and drink.
This Latino Leader Gathering is for young adult Catholics to come together to explore links between faith, Catholic social thought, and their lives and work, especially on public policy.
For those who cannot join us in person, the dialogue starting at 7:00 p.m. EST will be livestreamed and posted online for later viewing.
Resources
View articles and other resources for this dialogue.
