August 20, 2008 St. Bridget's Catholic Church
When nearly one-fifth of Postville's population was locked up this spring, hundreds of families were thrown into turmoil. But there was no Federal Emergency Management Agency or National Guard called in to help. So St. Bridget's Catholic Church stepped in. On May 12, almost 400 workers in the small town of Postville, IA were detained in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid on a meat processing plant known as Agriprocessors. According to ICE, 302 of the original 389 were charged with crimes, and all but five pleaded guilty in what they call "the largest criminal work site enforcement operation ever in the United States." The plant was the largest employer in Postville, a town that calls itself "Hometown to the World." The church provided much more than food to those affected by the raid. Lawyers volunteered advice, and the church still holds support group meetings for traumatized families. Some immigrants slept at the church in the week following the raid, afraid that if they returned to their houses, they would be arrested. Unable to work, many are depending upon the church to help pay their rent. The church, which reportedly has about 100 members and four staff persons, has raised $500,000 to help hundreds of illegal immigrants and their families from donors of all different faiths and communities. Around 60 workers were released by ICE following the raid to take care of their children or for "humanitarian" reasons. But they cannot work or leave, tethered to their hiding places with electronic monitoring bracelets until their day in court. According to The Associated Press, 20 to 25 women still wear the bracelets, which sometimes leave cuts and bruises on their ankles. Others say twice that many women are still under electronic monitoring. A pastor at St. Bridget's explained the women's situation to a reporter for the National Post last week. "The women are effectively prisoners," said Father Paul Ouderkirk. "The difference between them and anybody who is in jail is that in jail the government pays for them, but if they're on the streets, we pay for them. What kind of a government makes prisoners of 43 mothers who all have children and then says, 'You can't work, you can't leave, and can't stay?' That boggles the imagination." Sister Mary McCauley, the church's pastoral administrator, told Time Magazine it is a "privilege" to serve those affected by the raid. But she also said in a video shot by the group Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform that the crisis underscores the need for a change in immigration law: "We're trying to deal with that immediate shock and what to do with those immediate needs. But there's something much more that we have to face. And this problem is rooted in a very, very poor immigration system and we have to do all that we possibly can for immigration reform."For not only their tireless work to help victims of our nonsensical immigration laws, but also for their willingness to openly criticize the government for carrying out a raid with no regard to the impact it might have on their community, in the face of rabid opposition by anti-immigrant groups, we award St. Bridget's Catholic Church this week's Wings of Justice Award. Donations can be sent to: * * * Nominated by Daylia Vaughan of Washington, DC.
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