SAN DIEGO — At times in recent weeks, federal authorities have made it more difficult for clergy members and volunteers to accompany immigrants at their hearings and ICE check-ins at the federal courthouse.
On the gray morning of April 1, during Holy Week, about 100 volunteers stood outside the courthouse and responded.
“We are here today to publicly proclaim that we are not going away,” Bishop Michael Pham told the gathering. “We are not afraid. We will not be intimidated to stop doing what we do. We will pray. We will not loiter. Instead, we will bear witness to the dignity of our sisters and brothers.”
He continued his message, as those around him held palms.
“Our vision of humanity is that all people are made in God’s image and likeness,” the bishop said. “Our dignity does not come from any country’s government; our dignity comes from God alone. We see the immigrant journey as a holy one, knowing our own Savior Jesus was himself a refugee.”
Almost a year ago, the San Diego Diocese launched an ecumenical ministry called Faithful Accompaniment in Trust and Hope (FAITH) to stand with immigrants at their court hearings, in collaboration with Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish and the San Diego Organizing Project.
They did so after the federal government, as part of its massive deportation campaign, began detaining migrants immediately after their hearings and taking them away, leaving devastated families behind.
Since then, more than 700 clergy members and volunteers have received training to accompany the migrants in court.
The situation inside the courthouse changes day to day, volunteers said. At times, the authorities have stopped them from accompanying the migrants into their hearings. One day, they cited one of them.
The ministry coordinators held a listening session with Bishop Pham and Auxiliary Bishop Felipe Pulido to discuss these challenges. Jesuit Father Scott Santarosa, of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, said that the overwhelming sense was that the program should continue, “even if the officials made it harder to accompany people.”
They announced that decision publicly in front of the courthouse in the event called “Prophetic Witness, Sacred Kinship: Bearing Palms for the Holy.”
Bishop Pham shared his own experience living in a refugee camp in Malaysia as a boy with two of his siblings, after fleeing Vietnam, not knowing what the future held for him and his family. He described his experience accompanying migrants who are also fearful about what the future has in store.
He said that journeying with immigrants was not a political act, rather serving as disciples of Jesus “to bring Christ to the world.”
For more information about the FAITH ministry, visit olgsd.org/FAITH.
