Tonight as we were waiting to learn if my country was going to act on the genocidal threats of our president, I volunteered outside Delaney Hall providing support to families detained by my country under the same president’s inhumane immigration policies.
Six men and one woman were released this afternoon. Everyone in the hospitality tent clapped when a husband and wife were reunited. We consoled a crying wife and mother who has lost hope that her husband will be released. We distributed diapers to moms and coaxed shy children into picking out a toy to take home. Other volunteers grilled hot dogs and handed out empanadas and donated food and grocery gift cards. Good people helping good people in dark times.
All in all a mixed up day in a crazy world in times I could not have imagined. Yet I am choosing to be on the side of goodness. I resist evil. I say NO to the cruelty done in our name.
We heard about the cease fire while we were still helping folks in the hospitality tent. And then some more folks came out after their visit and we provided emotional and practical support
When I came home I read this from Pope Leo: “”Today, as we all know, there was this threat against the entire people of Iran, and this is truly unacceptable … People want peace. I would invite the citizens of all the countries involved to contact the authorities — political leaders, congressmen — to ask them to work for peace.”
I have written my members of Congress.
Tomorrow is another day, a day to pray and act for peace through justice. I choose love. Always. Everywhere. This is the way. Love one another.
This morning I attended (virtually) an immigration court hearing for a gentleman detained at Delaney Hall awaiting an opportunity for due process regarding his irregular status. The judge and government attorney were in the court room. The respondent was online from a very dreary closet sized room at the detention center. His attorney, and some other community supporters were online. It was quick – in fact I am grateful my nun training kicked in and led me to log in early, because when I logged in the hearing was already in process before the scheduled start time.
Before the hearing, I prayed with the readings for this second Tuesday of Advent. From Isaiah 11:
A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him: a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, A Spirit of counsel and of strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD, and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD. Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide, But he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted.
And from Psalm 72: He shall rescue the poor when he cries out, and the afflicted when he has no one to help him. He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor; the lives of the poor he shall save. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
Justice is not flourishing in our time for many families, especially our immigrant brothers and sisters. Today I read about some troubling developments in a post by the National Immigration Law Center that should concern those seeking justice for the afflicted of our day. ICE is trying to take away bond eligibility for long-term residents. Fortunately, just before Thanksgiving a district judge blocked a July ICE policy memo declaring that anyone who entered the country without permission is not eligible to request to be released from detention to bond, no matter how long they have been in this country. And in rare cases where bond is issued (it is a complicated process and 80% of people in detention do not have legal counsel), ICE regularly appeals the judge’s bond decision, which automatically blocks the person’s release while the appeal is pending. Due process is being systematically withheld in the supposed land of the free. Cruelty is the point, and it seems the design is to make life miserable while immigrants who have not committed (or been convicted of) any crimes are held in prison for months awaiting their day in court to address their violations of civil immigration law.
Now for some good news. The gentleman whose hearing I attended virtually today to show community support did have legal representation. He has been a law abiding resident of this country for eleven years, working and paying his taxes. He has two US citizen children. And today, the judge approved his bond at $7,000. That is a huge burden, but thankfully there are community groups who provide bond support for immigrant families. Please join me in praying that the government does not appeal the judge’s bond decision and that this gentlemen is released from detention soon and reunited with his family while he navigates the legal system and seeks to regularize his immigration status.
Living Advent means that we must realize that part of how justice and peace shall flourish is through our actions, our prayer, our advocacy, and our presence. May we live in active Advent hope and work for the day when the words of Isaiah and the psalmist are fulfilled.
Yesterday evening I joined a group of volunteers outside Delaney Hall, the for profit immigrant detention center located in an industrial area in Newark, New Jersey. We provided support to families visiting their detained loved ones on this national holiday.
There was the mother bringing her 2 day old to meet the child’s father for the very first time. Yes 2 days after giving birth! Such a tiny baby.
There were the elementary school age kids whose eyes lit up when I showed them a selection of donated Hot Wheels cars, still in the packaging, and said they could choose which one they wanted to take home.
There was the teenager who didn’t want to leave home on a cold Thanksgiving night and the Mom who made him come so he could see his Dad on this family holiday.
There was the family in tears as they were turned away by the guard because he decided (arbitrarily) that they didn’t arrive early enough, even though they were there half an hour before the assigned visiting hour for their loved one’s unit.
There were many others. Otherwise ordinary families forced by our unjust immigration system to stand on an active driveway at night in the cold in order to see their loved one.
It felt wrong somehow to wish them Happy Thanksgiving. But they wished us Happy Thanksgiving as we passed out slices of pizza and plastic red cups filled with pasta, warm food to feed their bodies and help them stay warm. They thanked us as we handed out blankets, hats, gloves, and scarves for them to use while they waited outside the gates for up to an hour in order to ensure the guard put them on the list of allowed visitors for their loved one’s unit.
GEO Group runs this immigration prison on a 15 year $1Billion tax payer funded contract. Their CEO told shareholders on an earnings call that they expect to earn a $60 million profit this year alone detaining migrants at Delaney Hall.
Yet they choose not to use those profits to provide an indoor waiting area for families visiting loved ones. They recently installed a metal shed with no walls or heat on the active driveway and filled it with cold metal benches. This is insufficient and provides no safety or real shelter from the elements as we move into winter.
Federal Holidays are supposed to be full visiting days and follow the weekend daytime schedule. In fact the guards announced to visitors last weekend that Thanksgiving Day and the Day after would be all day visiting with one hour visits for each unit. Then on Tuesday a sign was posted that Thanksgiving would follow the regular Thursday evening schedule. No mention of Friday. That meant having to wait outside in the dark for a half hour visit. We wondered if they were understaffed on the holiday. In any case it led to confusion and hardship for the families.
One family I have gotten to know did not have to wait outside this Thanksgiving. After four months of detention because of his irregular status, their loved one finally was released on bond the night before Thanksgiving. His wife wrote me:
“Yes, he was set free last night!!! 🙌 We barely slept last night because we were so happy and relieved. It is so nice having him here and seeing how he is experiencing everything new again. Praise the Lord on this Day of Thanksgiving for all His wonderful blessings and how He heard months of cry’s and prayers and gave us our hearts desire.”
They now face an uphill battle with the courts, but they are reunited and he is safe. He lost a lot of weight in detention due to the conditions and the quality of food provided.
Please pray for all those in detention, 1,000 at Delaney Hall and more than 60,000 nationwide. Pray for their families. Advocate for them to receive due process and humane treatment. We cannot be silent.
(Photo borrowed from Instagram of another volunteer @christinehou. I am not in the photo as it was taken after I left a little early because my feet were so cold!)
Today is the Feast of All Souls, also known as the Day of the Dead.
This morning I celebrated this Feast with immigrant families waiting to visit their detained loved ones outside Delaney Hall, the private for-profit immigrant prison in Newark, NJ. Despite the estimated $60 million annual profit GEO Corporation makes on the operation, they force families to wait outside for hours on an active driveway for a chance to see their loved ones. Thankfully a group of dedicated volunteers are there each visiting day to provide practical support with beverages, food, chairs, blankets, hats, gloves and perhaps most importantly compassion.
In the first reading for today from the Book of Wisdom we hear: “The souls of the just are in the hand of God.” And in the second reading from Romans: “Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Every time I am at Delaney Hall I leave with more hope, even in the face of the intentional cruelty done in the name of my country, because of the goodness of people.
Today one of the families woke up at 5 am to make tamales and Mexican hot chocolate which they brought to share with others families and the faithful volunteers who are there during visiting hours to support the visitors. The family told us they wanted to give to us like we give to them. I will admit this brought tears to my eyes. And I was not the only one. (Plus the tamales and hot chocolate were delicious)
Homemade tamales!
Other volunteers brought toys and art supplies for the kids. And there was even a face painting station. For children whose families have been torn apart and who wait for hours outside a chain link fence topped with concertina wire for a chance to see their detained mom or dad, these simple gestures also give them a chance to be a kid and have some good memories to see them through.
Face painting
Other volunteers set up a colorful altar, an ofrenda, for the Day of the Dead. We remember our loved ones who have gone before, so fitting as an emotional and spiritual support for the families visiting their detained loved ones.
Indeed hope does not disappoint because God’s love is poured out freely into our hearts. We in turn pour this love into the world, especially places and spaces of suffering and oppression.
In the words of the collect from today’s liturgy:
Listen kindly to our prayers, O Lord,
and, as our faith in your Son,
raised from the dead, is deepened,
so may our hope of resurrection for your departed servants
also find new strength.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
I spent yesterday morning with other volunteers at Delaney Hall providing hospitality and solidarity to families visiting loved ones.
I have been recovering from Covid so hadn’t been in a while. As always I found myself inspired by the courage of the families waiting to visit loved ones and the open hearts and dedication of the volunteers. I was also heartbroken. This time it was the children who have to face this cruelty, some born while their fathers have been detained. Others just trying to be a kid in very difficult circumstances. I couldn’t help but think of the words of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Last night as I went to bed, I realized that not only was my heart broken 💔, I had over estimated my post covid energy level. While I had planned to attend the prayer service this morning outside Delaney Hall, instead I prayed at home with the Scriptures for todays liturgy, where I found strength for the journey.
The Prophet Habakkuk was reading the signs of injustice in his own time and calling on the people to hold fast in faith. It is one of my all time favorite passages.
“How long, O Lord? I cry for help / but you do not listen! / I cry out to you, “Violence!” / but you do not intervene. / Why do you let me see ruin; / why must I look at misery? / Destruction and violence are before me; / there is strife, and clamorous discord. / Then the Lord answered me and said: / Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets, / so that one can read it readily. / For the vision still has its time, / presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; / if it delays, wait for it, / it will surely come, it will not be late. / The rash one has no integrity; / but the just one, because of his faith, shall live.”
In his letter to Timothy St. Paul tells his community (and us):
“Beloved: I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.”
The Gospel from Luke is a call from Jesus to risk the bigness of smallness.
“The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”
As Pope Leo XIV said when he first stepped out on the balcony at St Peter’s Basilica: “God loves us, God loves you all, and evil will not prevail. “
God of justice, love, and mercy, help us to remember and always to be animated by your love. Give us courage to act in the face of oppression and violations of human dignity. Help us to participate in your creating power of love in ways big and small. Most of all, increase our faith that we may truly believe in You who are bigger than it all. Amen
Friends some seriously (and apparently intentionally) inhumane actions are being perpetrated in our name and funded by our tax dollars. This is true on many levels and across the country, but this particular story is local and takes place a 20 minute drive from my house at Delaney Hall, a private for profit prison in an industrial area of Newark, New Jersey where immigrants are detained on behalf of our federal government.
There are many issues with the lack of due process, lies and deception by ICE officials, and violations of established legal protections that have led to up to 1,000 of our immigrant brothers and sisters being detained at Delaney Hall on any given day. Then there are the questions about how these human beings are being treated while in detention. Those are topics for another post.
This story is simply about the arbitrary and constantly changing rules for visitors, rules that are cruel and inhumane. Inhumanity seems to be the point and motivating factor. There is no other explanation to what is happening to the families desperate to see their loved ones one more time before they are deported.
Like the 14 year old US citizen child who was in tears today, trying to get into the detention center with her Aunt. Her mom and dad are both detained at Delaney Hall. They heard that her father might be deported tonight. They were desperate for accurate information regarding the fate of her parents. They could not afford legal assistance. Listening to her story was simply heart breaking.
Or like Bella who was denied the right to visit her daughter Mary during the scheduled 7:30 am visitation time allotted for just 15 visitors each Saturday for the up to 100 female detainees in Mary’s ward. Bella made an early morning trip from her home across the Hudson in New York to get there in time, at great expense. The published visitation rules signed by the Delaney Hall security chief say you may be denied entry if you arrive after the start of visitation hours. She arrived by 7:20 but the guard decided she was too late and told her to come back tomorrow. I tried to advocate for her but to no avail. He kept just saying she should have come earlier and he was within her rights to deny her visitation. Even though they had not yet let the 7:30 visitors inside, and they had not met the limit on the number of allowed visitors. I asked to speak to a supervisor, after identifying myself as a Catholic Sister/clergy, but he refused and again just said he was within his rights to deny her entry.
Bella literally dropped to her knees and opened her arms wide in supplication, calling out to God for mercy. She was in tears, as was I. Powerless in the face of inhumanity and injustice.
These are just two stories of many, just from today during the morning hours at this one detention center. Visitation is no longer allowed during the week at Delaney Hall, only on the weekends and during very limited hours. Family members line up hours early, waiting in the hot sun, often after driving hours to visit, without any guarantee they will be allowed inside. The visitation hours and rules published on the Delaney Hall and ICE websites are incorrect and out-of-date at best, if not intentional misinformation. Each week the guards seem to change the rules or at least apply them inconsistently. The families suffer, as do their loved ones who are waiting for a visit that never comes. Why? I can’t help but think it is by design.
And then this afternoon, after navigating this whole ordeal to set eyes on their loved one for a few minutes, a group of visitors came out to find their vehicles had been ticketed or towed by the Newark Police Department. Because, you see, not only is there not a visitor parking lot at this detention center (operated by tax dollars under a $1 Billion 5 year contract with ICE), there is also not any legal parking on the public city street outside the detention center. There is a public parking lot next door at the Essex County Detention Center, but visitors to the private prison next door are not allowed to park there, although staff apparently are. Again, why? I can’t help but think this inhumanity is by design.
This is not ok. We cannot be silent.
Now for good news. A group of folks organized in mutual aid swiftly organized to help the visitors get their cars out of the impound lot. Others are strategizing how to work with elected officials on a long-term parking solution. Many folks spent time outside Delaney Hall today in solidarity and support of the visitors, providing umbrellas and tents to protect them from the sun while they waited hours outside the gate. Offering coffee and donuts and water. Creating a play area for the children. Making and holding up signs as public witness to say that profiting off of human misery is immoral, that no human being is illegal, and that we are called to love our neighbors. Some of the visitors even brought toys and snacks themselves to share with others. Community at its organic best.
Goodness, in other words, was present even amidst the inhumanity. Love is always stronger than hate.
Last night I made this prayer video featuring pictures of our global family set to a song that has been in my heart of late, Turning of the World by Sarah Thomsen.
Then, in this morning’s liturgical readings, I heard in Psalm 37:
Turn from evil and do good,
that you may abide forever;
For the Lord loves what is right,
and forsakes not his faithful ones
And from the Gospel of Matthew:
But beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
We are in times when much evil is being done by those in power. This leaves us with a choice. What will we do as …
Millions of children and families lose their lives that could have been saved with humanitarian food and medical assistance, which has already been funded by our government.
Families are torn apart by an inhumane immigration detention system on steroids fueled by greed and ideology.
The coffers of the ultra wealthy are overfilled by stealing life saving food and health care from those on the margins though drastic budget cuts and eliminating the social safety net.
We must call this what it is … social sin. We cannot be silent, even if as Jesus points out in this Gospel passage, there may be consequences. We must use whatever privilege we have and also take risks to turn from evil and do what is good, trusting in the Spirit of God.
Together we can turn the world through our loving, healing, and dreaming. Let us be hope for one another.
Today’s Gospel reading is one of my favorites, and so timely. From Matthew:
“As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him. Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep. They came and woke him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ He said to them, ‘Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?’ Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm. The men were amazed and said, ‘What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?’”
There is a beautiful song reflecting on this story by The Porter’s Gate, “Wake up Jesus,” in which the singer Liz Vice laments soulfully at the end: “How can you sleep when we’re in need. Won’t you rise up? Won’t you rise up?”
This morning in prayer it dawned on me … I need to be the one to rise up. You need to be the one to rise up. We need to be the ones to rise up. That’s how this whole Christianity thing works. They will know we are Christians by our love.
Our love for families who are separated by inhumane immigrant detention efforts.
Our love for the children and families who will lose food assistance if the budget bill goes through. Even Fox News admits 3 million people could lose benefits to combat hunger.
Our love for the estimated 12 million people who will no longer be covered by health insurance with cuts to Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest among us.
The storms keep coming and lives are literally at stake.
Will we rise up as our lawmakers prioritize greed and misguided ideology over life and human dignity?
Will we be Christ and use our God given agency to calm the raging seas, each doing our bit, contributing to the common good?
Will we be awake to the suffering of human beings, present to their pain and ready to act to rebuild our social fabric?
My prayer this morning is for Christ to guide me/us, to sustain me/us, and to inspire me/us to action.
Imagine this scenario. Your daughter is a newlywed. While she is not a US citizen, her husband is, and she is trying to navigate the legal system to adjust her own status. She shows up at the immigration office for her regularly scheduled appointment, from which she does not return home. You finally make contact to learn that she is being held in immigration detention at Delaney Hall, a private for-profit prison run by GEO Group under a 15 year contract granted by the Trump Administration in February worth $1 Billion. You call the detention center to learn about visiting hours, yet the phone number listed on the website is disconnected. The GEO website and the ICE website both say that there are daily visiting hours, but when you make your way to the warehouse-like building where your daughter is detained, located on a highway with a nearby sewage plant and industrial estates spewing toxic smells while tractor trailers barrel by, you learn that daily visitation has been cancelled and you can only visit now on Saturday and Sunday. So you manage to come back on Saturday morning, only to be barred entry again because you are wearing open toe shoes on this summer day.
This is not a made up scenario, but the story I cobbled together this morning after greeting this mother outside the gates of Delaney Hall after she had been denied entry. In the end she was able to visit her daughter because I lent her a pair of shoes that Sister Sheena and I had brought with us for this very situation. The guards are able to bar visitors if they judge that they don’t meet the dress code, which in addition to open toe shoes can include sleeveless tops or shorts/skirts that are deemed to be too short. Other visitors who lined up outside the gates this morning to lay eyes on their loved ones were turned away for other reasons. Some thankfully were able to enter the facility to see their loved ones. About an hour later I saw these folks leave the facility, their faces showing a mix of emotion as they rushed back to their cars. I held each of them in prayer as they walked by.
I was able to greet the woman whose story I tell above to return her shoes. She and her son-in-law told us that her daughter is doing ok. They were holding back tears as they thanked us for the loan of shoes and more importantly for our kindness. They told us how much it meant to them that those detained at Delaney hall are not forgotten. I promised to pray for both of them and her daughter.
My friends, horrible things are not only happening in our name, but corporations are making a profit, paid by our tax dollars, on this inhuman treatment of our immigrant brothers and sisters. This attack on human dignity is incentivized. We cannot be silent. We must pay attention. We must listen to and tell the story. That is why I held aloft a sign that I made during my prayer time this morning – “History has its eyes on you.” Sheena held a sign that said “For Profit Prisons are Immoral.”
For the past ten weeks a faithful group of ordinary folks, including Pax Christi New Jersey, have been standing witness outside Delaney Hall to keep “Eyes on ICE” and provide support to the families attempting to visit their loved ones. They offer clothing when needed to pass the dress code, water and snacks for those who have travelled far to stand in line outside in the heat, and information sheets with helpline numbers for immigrant aid organizations. Perhaps most importantly they show that there are good people who are watching, standing witness, and calling out this social sin with real life consequences and who want to offer support. I hope to join them whenever I can. Sadly, this inhumanity for profit is happening just a twenty minute drive from my home.
This for profit prison is convenient for the immigration industrial complex because of its proximity to Newark Airport. “The location near an international airport streamlines logistics, and helps facilitate the timely processing of individuals in our custody as we pursue President Trump’s mandate to arrest, detain and remove illegal aliens from our communities,” said acting ICE Director Caleb Vitello when GEO was awarded the contract in February.
While we were there this morning, we witnessed a van full of immigrants leave the facility, escorted by unmarked vehicles, presumably on their way to a deportation flight at the airport. We were able to just see the men inside through the tinted windows. Hopefully they could see us outside as I held up a sign saying: “Fathers, we see you. We are fighting for you and your families. Stay strong!”
On Tuesday, June 24, Catholic Sisters and their partners and friends will gather on the steps of the US Capitol, and in echo events across the country, for prayer and public witness in support of immigrants and a just economy. My Congregation, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, is one of the sponsoring organizations of Sisters Speak Out. It does my heart good to see how the network has grown as evidenced by this graphic.
We will have representation at the DC event and our CSJP sisters and associates will also gather in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey and Bellevue, Washington for echo events. The Bellevue prayer and witness is open to the public and will be live streamed. Click here for details and to register.
This is our moral moment. We must hold fast to Gospel values and stand together in support of human dignity. Speaking out is a requirement of justice even as we are overwhelmed by the inhumanity and unfathomability of actions undertaken in our name. It is a requirement of our faith precisely because these inhumane actions are being taken in our name. Catholic Social Teaching calls us to have a preferential option for those who are poor, to protect life and human dignity at all stages, to defend the rights of workers and migrants, to care for creation. All of these are presently under attack.
Yesterday, World Refugee Day, San Diego Bishop Elect Michael Pham visited the federal building to stand in solidarity with individuals making appearances in immigration court who were afraid of being summarily detained and held in private for profit immigration prisons. (Yes not only is this becoming routine, but these immigrants seeking to follow legal systems are being swept up by men in masks in 2025 in the United States!). This did not happen yesterday in the presence of the Bishop and his fellow clergy.
Per a news story: “masked immigration agents weren’t leaning against the off-white walls, waiting to grab people. They scattered Friday after seeing a clergy delegation led by Bishop Pham.
‘Like the story of Moses and Exodus, the Red Sea parted,’ said observer Scott Reid of the immigrant-aiding San Diego Organizing Project.
Said another observer: ‘We’ve never seen the hallways cleared out so quickly.’
The result: Nobody was detained as immigration lawyers said would happen.”
I will still be out of the country on June 24, visiting our sisters in the UK. It has been an interesting few weeks to be out of the country, that is for sure. And when I tell people the scale and scope of what is happening at home, they look at me with unbelief and a sort of pity.
Wherever you are on June 24 please join us in solidarity. And know that we are in this for the long haul, following in the footsteps of Jesus who always stood with those who were oppressed.
As we say in our CSJP Constitutions:
“Christ is our peace, the source of our power. United with him we engage in the struggle against the reality of evil and continue the work of establishing God’s reign of justice and peace.”
At the Corner of Susan and St. Joseph 