National immigration reform tour visits Lutz
Antonio Cube, national manager of the Justice for Immigrants Campaign, makes a presentation at Sept. 20 workshop in Lutz. “The historic tradition of the church is to look after people to help them provide for families and children,” Cube said. “Immigrants don’t come here to break laws. They come for a better future.”
JAMIE PILARCZYK | FC
According
to Antonio
Cube...
• Since 2000 the United States has had the richest ethnic and cultural diversity in its history.
• Since 2000, more than 30 million immigrants began lives in the United States
• 33 million Americans are foreign born
600,000, or 6 percent, of undocumented immigrants arrived from Europe
• About 400,000, or 4 percent, are from Africa
LUTZ | Immigration proved to be a sensitive issue at the Diocese of St. Petersburg’s Justice for Immigrants workshop Sept. 20 — the only Florida stop on a national interfaith tour to promote reform.
Before guest speaker Antonio Cube, national manager of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Justice for Immigrants Campaign, could get to his second PowerPoint slide, a man in the 40–member audience raised his hand to challenge the idea of helping immigrants, illegal or legal, when it takes jobs away from Americans.
“Let’s view this from our lenses as Catholics, not as Americans,” Cube said. “It is hard for a lot of people to get past. At the end of the day, we’re still all brothers and sisters.”
While ruffling a few feathers in the crowd, the gentleman left, not hearing the rest of the presentation. However, his comments served to remind those gathered that perspective is key.
The Justice for Immigrants Campaign was started in 2004 as the Catholic campaign for comprehensive immigration reform. The USCCB is one of several national Christian and Jewish groups participating in the Tour of the Faithful, which began Sept. 10 in Columbus, Ohio, and will wind up Oct. 19 in Chicago. The Saturday workshop — a tool to inform parishioners about the immigration issue and empower them to take action on immigration reform — was one of 17 events on the national schedule.
“The historic tradition of the church is to look after people to help them provide for families and children,” Cube said. “Immigrants don’t come here to break laws. They come for a better future.”
He said that for comprehensive immigration reform legislation to be truly workable, it should: provide a pathway to legalization for the undocumented, create a viable guest–worker program, keep families united, address the root causes of migration, and implement border security measures in conjunction with the other stated comprehensive immigration reform components.
Hosted by the offices of Life Ministry and Multicultural Ministry, the Justice for Immigrants workshop included a prayer service for the people in Colombia where residents struggle against corruption and drug wars.
“It’s always important to raise awareness because there are so many people living in shadows,” said Piedad Aristizabal of the Multicultural Ministry office. “As a church, we need to recognize the dignity of the person. We are called to be peacemakers.”
Many of those at the workshop were immigrants, representing a broad spectrum of countries from Ireland to Morocco to Mexico and parishes from several counties.
Helen Granado–Boesel was born in Trinidad and Tobago. About 35 years ago, she came to the United States to study chemistry before returning to her country to get her pharmacy degree.
She came back to U.S. where she practiced as a pharmacist. She said she felt the burden of being an immigrant with lower wages than her white, male counterparts.
“We were not trusted. We were not equally paid. We were second–class citizens,” said Granado–Boesel, of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in New Port Richey. “If that can happen to one at the level of a professional person, what can happen to poor people who have no voice?”
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