UPDATE: Deportation case indicates need for immigration reform
By Julie Carroll
Tuesday, 01 December 2009
“[E]very human being has the right to freedom of movement and of residence within the confines of his own State. When there are just reasons in favor of it, he must be permitted to emigrate to other countries and take up residence there. The fact that he is a citizen of a particular State does not deprive him of membership in the human family, nor of citizenship in that universal society, the common, world-wide fellowship of men.”
— Pope John XXIII, “Pacem in Terris”
Clockwise from bottom right, Edwin, 6, Kimberly, 8, Nixon, 11, Jennifer, 14, Sara, holding daughter, Angie, 1, Nixon and Joanna Avendano, 16, sit together in their St. Michael home. - Photo by Jim Bovin / For The Catholic Spirit
Update: Avendano¹s visa renewed for another year
Sara González Avendano, a Mexican immigrant whose story was featured in the Nov. 19 issue of The Catholic Spirit, received word Nov. 19 that her temporary humanitarian visa has been renewed for another year.
Avendano, a resident of St. Michael and member of Holy Rosary parish in Minneapolis, had been deported to Mexico in 2007 and subsequently allowed to return to the United States to care for her six children, including a 6-year-old son who has autism.
When Avendano received a call from her lawyer to inform her of the decision to renew her visa, she said she screamed, thanked God and hugged her baby daughter.
"I want to thank everyone who sent letters to Washington . . . and who prayed that I could stay with my children," Avendano said in Spanish. "There aren't words to express my emotions, but I feel very happy. The whole family is very happy."
Audio of Jennifer Avendano at the November 7 archdiocesan forum on immigration reform.
The packed room fell silent as 14-year-old Jennifer Avendano began to
speak, her voice trembling with emotion. The girl’s parents, brothers
and sisters huddled behind her, her mother clutching a picture of Our
Lady of Guadalupe, as Avendano told their story.
“My mom was deported the day after my sister’s birthday. They just took
her away, arrested her right in front of my brothers’ and sisters’
eyes. They just grabbed her, handcuffed her and put her in the
immigration police car,” Avendano said as she sobbed. “It was the worst
day of my life.”
Many participants of a Nov. 7 archdiocesan forum on immigration reform
wiped away tears as Avendano spoke about how her mother’s deportation
to Mexico impacted her and her siblings.
In 1993, Sara Avendano came to the United States with a visa to attend
a family wedding. While in the U.S., she met and fell in love with her
husband, Nixon, a Salvadoran living and working in the U.S. legally.
Today, the St. Michael couple has six children, all U.S. citizens.
After Sara’s visa expired, she sought to legalize her status, but her request was denied.
On June 15, 2007, after living in the U.S. for 14 years, she was deported.
In December 2007, Sara was granted humanitarian parole, allowing her to
reunite with her family. However, her visa is set to expire on Dec. 4.
“I’m going through the same situation again and it’s very sad for me
and for my children,” Sara said in Spanish. “My children are everything
to me and I don’t know what will happen if I go to Mexico. Now I have a
new baby, and my son Edwin has autism.
“Please,” she added, “I need the support of everyone so that there is
immigration reform, not just for me but for so many mothers and fathers
going through the same thing, because the children are the ones who
suffer.”
Get involved
Justice for Immigrants — Minnesota organizers offered these ideas for Catholics interested in joining the campaign for comprehensive immigration reform.
» Become an active member of Justice for Immigrants — Minnesota by signing up on the Web site, www.jfimn.org. Invite others to join as well.
» Sign up on the JFI-MN Web site to receive action alerts and event information by e-mail.
» Take advantage of the many resources provided on the JFI-MN Web site.
» Promote Immigration Sunday, set for Jan. 3 in parishes throughout Minnesota.
» Host an immigration forum at your parish.
» Organize a group to meet with legislators to advance JFI-MN’s message.
» Call or e-mail your legislators regarding immigration issues.
» Write letters on immigration issues to the editors of local publications.
Justice for Immigrants
About 100 people turned out at the archdiocesan Hayden Center in St.
Paul for the first gathering of Justice for Immigrants — Minnesota, a
Catholic campaign for comprehensive immigration reform. Similar
gatherings are scheduled in the dioceses of New Ulm, St. Cloud and
Winona.
At the St. Paul gathering, Kathy Tomlin, director of the archdiocesan
Office for Social Justice, said the campaign seeks to organize
Catholics to bring “the Catholic voice and vision for humane
immigration reform to our elected officials.”
“We decided what we needed to do in all the dioceses across the state
was to reengage people in this struggle,” Tomlin said. “The purpose of
our gathering today is to renew and revitalize our commitment toward
comprehensive immigration reform.”
John Keller, executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of
Minnesota, and archdiocesan representatives urged Catholics to meet
with legislative leaders to express their support for immigration
reform.
Keller pointed out that Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken
are members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is expected to
produce the first immigration bill in the U.S. Senate early in 2010.
“This is a challenge that we cannot shy away from,” Keller said. “Do
not lose your hope, do not lose your courage, do not say that this is a
fight I won’t engage in.
“It is daunting,” he added, “but anything worth fighting for — when
it’s real change that’s at stake, when it’s about unity, when it’s
about the love and the compassion that you can feel for a family that’s
suffering — requires a little bit more . . . from me and from you and
from people across the state.”
For more information about the Justice for Immigrants — Minnesota campaign, visit the Web site at www.jfimn.org, or contact the archdiocesan Office for Social Justice at (651) 291-4477 or
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It is sad to see this woman try so hard to legalize her status for the sake of love. This story begs for a happy ending and I will pray for her. But with 11 million people currently residing illegally in the USA, doing everything they can to bend the law to their favor in order to escape the consequences of their illegal actions, it is also not hard to understand why Immigration Bureaucrats cannot afford compassion. In the Wild West that is Illegal Immigration no good deed goes unpunished. And sooner or later the patience of even the saintliest wears thin.
The chances of this story having a happy ending go down as those who would use it to try to change our immigration laws co-opt it for their own purposes. In says in Luke 20 ‘45 Then, in the hearing of all the people, He said to His disciples, 46 “Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, 47 who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”’
For those who would cite the Papal Decree listed above that purports to say Illegal Immigration is good, I would remind those pushing for this decree to become law that in the USA Catholics make up 22% of the population. If Papal Decree were to be forced into law then what comes next? Do we also adopt Sharia Law, or Lutheran Cannon, or Talmud Law? Is it not better to remember what was said in 1 Peter 2 ‘13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake, whether to the king as supreme, 14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.’ Or maybe it would be good to remember that in Luke 20 when the Scribes and the Chief Priests tried to trap Jesus into preaching against giving tribute to authority Jesus said "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's".
Morglay ,
November 19, 2009
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Perhaps a ministry of advocacy, to educate and assist people in completing proper paperwork and meeting deadlines for filing would be time better spent than changing or doing away with our immigration laws/requirements.
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