As reported in the Detroit Free Press last week, agents of U.S.Customs and Border Protection arrived at Ste. Anne de Detroit Church in Detroit during a parish celebration on the eve of St. Anne’s feast in late July. Agents detained one man who was later released: It turns out he was living legally in the U.S.
“It is completely inappropriate for Border Patrol to be at a church during mass,” said the Rev. Tom Sepulveda, pastor of Ste. Anne, the second oldest parish in the U.S., established in 1701. An article on the parish’s website says the community is 75 percent Hispanic. Latinos in Detroit have increasingly been reporting profiling and harassment by federal agents, says the Detroit Free Press.
Chalk up another disgraceful act by our government, which has now deported over one million people since President Obama took office.
For more on the immigration front, read Father Tom Joyce’s take on the much-maligned federal Secure Communities program, which is supposed to keep us safe by deporting dangerous criminals but has made a habit of rounding up and deporting people whose only crime is unlawful entry into the U.S.
