immigration Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

U.S. Bishops’ “Special Message” on Immigration

The priority of the Lord is for those who are most vulnerable: the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the stranger (Zechariah 7:10).

I noticed that “as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) gathered for their Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore, the bishops issued a Special Message addressing their concern for the evolving situation impacting immigrants in the United States. It marked the first time in twelve years that the USCCB invoked this particularly urgent way of speaking as a body of bishops.”

I understand that this is a very big deal. “The last one issued in 2013 was in response to the federal government’s contraceptive mandate.| Specifically, their position was that the Obama Administration mandate violated the First Amendment freedoms of religious organizations and others. While I disagreed, I would have to acknowledge that their position was consistent with their stated theology.

So is their immigration position, which passed 216 to 5 with three abstentions. This was covered in the New York Times.

The statement

In part:

“As pastors, we, the bishops of the United States, are bound to our people by ties of communion and compassion in Our Lord Jesus Christ. We are

-disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement

– saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants

-concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care.

-troubled by threats against the sanctity of houses of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools.

– grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school, and when we try to console family members who have already been separated from their loved ones.

“Despite obstacles and prejudices, generations of immigrants have made enormous contributions to the well-being of our nation. We as Catholic bishops love our country and pray for its peace and prosperity. For this very reason, we feel compelled, in this environment, to raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity.”

It’s followed by Biblical citations supporting their view.

Moral counterweight

From Axios in October: A diverse coalition of moderate and progressive Christians has opted to jump off the pulpit and challenge the regime around immigration, civil rights, and poverty.

The big picture: Moderate faith leaders are escorting immigrants to court hearings, blasting “rapid response” text alerts on sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and leading vigils to try to prevent protest clashes.

They pray with ICE agents and National Guard troops to try to ease tension while also giving “know your rights” workshops to immigrants.

The intrigue: From the pulpit, they frame their actions as a moral stand outlined by Jesus in the Gospels to help “the stranger” and “the least of these,” as they call on their members to speak out.

“We don’t just pray for peace. We bring peace,” the Rev. Brendan Busse, pastor of Dolores Mission Catholic Church in Los Angeles, tells Axios.

Evangelicals

While many evangelicals are taking an opposing view, lots of them also support the immigrant. In June, “on World Refugee Day, scores of evangelical pastors and ministry leaders from across the State of California are speaking up on the contentious topic of immigration. After weeks of unrest over increased immigration enforcement in the state that is home to more immigrants than any other, evangelical leaders are affirming a ‘California Evangelical Statement on Refugees & Immigration.’

“As evangelical Christians in California, our perspective on immigration is grounded in the authority of Scripture. While immigration is a political issue, we see it first as a biblical one—deeply connected to the mission of the Church both locally and globally. We affirm the need to clearly express the biblical principles that guide our views, so that immigrants—many of whom are fellow members of the same Body of Christ and all of whom are our neighbors (Luke 10:27)—know we stand with them.”

News

11/7: USCIS announced that it is complying with the district court order in ASAP v. USCIS on 10/30/25 and has paused the issuance of Annual Asylum Fee (AAF) notices. Applicants may disregard previously issued AAF notices while the stay is in place. USCIS will not refund previously paid AAFs.

Racial Profiling Is ICE’s New Norm. Activists Are Mobilizing in Response.

Hamilton: “We get the job done.”

Immigration Man – Graham Nash

June rambling: wealth to the top

Henry Johnson

The Republican budget shifts wealth to the top, with workers paying the price. A new congressional analysis reveals massive tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, while working families are expected to shoulder cuts, tariffs, and rising costs under GOP economic plans. ITEP analysis.

America is a scam

Peace through… by Sharp Little Pencil

The Rot Goes Deeper Than FOTUS: Just winning the next set of elections won’t fix the underlying problems.

West Point Is Supposed to Educate, Not Indoctrinate

DOJ keeps busy suing states for not being bigoted enough

If Blanche Were Here by Sharp Little Pencil

The Court fails transgender youth.

Hard Truths About Immigration by Adam Ragusea, a podcaster/content creator to whom folks usually look for tips on the best way to cook dinner

Congresswoman Kim Schrier (D-WA) questions our Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Asked to flag ‘negative’ National Park content, visitors gave their own 2 cents instead.

World of Ideas

Bill Moyers, the longtime PBS and CBS Journalist and Documentary Filmmaker, dies at 91. “He showed a generation of journalists, scholars, and public intellectuals what it means to speak truth to power.” I have his book World of Ideas and its sequel in my office, at arm’s length.

We Don’t Have To Give In To Smartphones. They haven’t defeated us. Yet. By Jonathan Haidt, Will Johnson, and Zach Rausch

That’s It, The F-Word Is Officially Boring

The unexpected package Mark Evanier received was probably brushing

I Was A Juror On A Murder Trial (possibly related: just this month, I filled out a survey to be on jury duty)

The Hollywood Blockbuster They Forgot To Copyright

Six Miles of Field Goals

Now I Know: The Earth’s Great Bear Coincidence and The Original Slush Fund and How to Watch Golf During a Basketball Game (Maybe) and The Girl With Twin Fathers and The Restaurant With A Rotating Grandma On The Menu

SCOTUS

The Supreme Court restricted the ability of federal judges to issue broad nationwide freezes on executive orders, a significant victory for FOTUS that opens the door for states to at least temporarily enforce his order ending birthright citizenship.

Justice Sotomayor’s dissent, in part. “The Government now asks this Court to grant emergency relief, insisting it will suffer irreparable harm unless it can deprive at least some children born in the United States of citizenship…

“No right is safe in the new legal regime the Court creates. Today, the threat is to birthright citizenship. Tomorrow, a different administration may try to seize firearms from law-abiding citizens or prevent people of certain faiths from gathering to worship. The majority holds that, absent cumbersome class-action litigation, courts cannot completely enjoin even such plainly unlawful policies unless doing so is necessary to afford the formal parties complete relief. That holding renders constitutional guarantees meaningful in name only for any individuals who are not parties to a lawsuit. Because I will not be complicit in so grave an attack on our system of law, I dissent.”

Justice Jackson adds, “The Court’s decision to permit the Executive branch to violate the Constitution with respect to anyone who has not yet sued is an existential threat to the rule of law.”

RENAME

From here and elsewhere: “Henry Johnson of Albany, N.Y., was a genuine war hero — recipient of the Purple Heart, Distinguished Service Cross and Medal of Honor, and the first American to receive France’s highest award for valor. President Theodore Roosevelt called him one of the ‘five bravest Americans’ to serve in World War I…

“This [month], news came that Johnson’s name will be stripped from the U.S. Army fort [in Louisiana] that was named for him, part of the Trump administration’s decision to revert to names that honor military leaders of the Confederate States of America who waged war against the United States.”

Technically, “according to a press release on the Army’s website, the renaming of Fort Johnson will now pay homage to a World War II colonel and Silver Star recipient, James H. Polk, as opposed to [Confederate General] Leonidas Polk.” But this is a sham.

46th District New York Senator Pat Fahy, a Democrat, says that the news “felt like a gut punch.” “It is shameless, and it is it’s, you have to call it what it is. This is clearly trying to whitewash the history, clearly a complete dishonor…

“To help re-stake claim to that legacy, Fahy, Assembly colleagues Gabriella Romero of the 109th and John McDonald of the 108th, along with Republican Senator Jake Ashby of the 43rd district, have introduced legislation that would rename the Patroon Island Bridge after Johnson.

MUSIC

Lalo Schifrin, Acclaimed Composer of ‘Mission: Impossible,’ ‘Mannix’ Themes, Dies at 93

Lou Christie, Lightnin’ Strikes and Rhapsody In the Rain Singer, Dies at 82

In honor of Dr. Demento: The Cockroach That Ate Cincinnati

Bobby Sherman, Teen Idol and ‘Here Come the Brides’ Actor, Dies at 81

Best Albums of 2025 (First Half)

Caledonia – VOCES8

Coverville 1535: A Rick Derringer Tribute and Spandau Ballet Cover Story, and 1538: Cover Stories for Air Supply and The Zombies

The Joker – Lady Gaga

MAYBE HAPPY ENDING’s Standbys Sing ‘The Rainy Day We Met’; Hannah Kevitt and Christopher James Tamayo are the standbys for Claire and Oliver

Sour Times – Portishead

Peter Sprague Plays Hurricane Country and A Felicidade featuring Allison Adams Tucker

Big Spender – Sam Phillips

God Almighty’s Gonna Cut You Down – The Jubalaires –

6 Underground – Sneaker Pimps

The Longest Time by Billy Joel, Julien Neel, Dan Wright, Sam Robson, and COVID-era Zach Timson

Defying Gravity – Brittain Ashford

Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, from the Disney film Fantasia 2000

God Only Knows – the Beach Boys

Heaven – Bryan Adams

Lassie 1959 Opening and Closing Theme (With the Lone Ranger Snippet)

Remembering James Horner (1953-2015)

Book: Daniel de Visé’s ‘The Blues Brothers’

Making the effort

“ministry of presence, support, and advocacy for the victims of society’s injustice and neglect”

Making the effort is its own reward, someone said.

It would have been very easy not to go to church the Sunday morning of February 2nd. Even with my greatest effort, clearing our sidewalk of snow and ice the day before was impossible as the temperature plummeted, even with rock salt. Most of my neighbors were likewise stymied.

Moreover, the service wasn’t at my church but at Emmanuel Baptist, one of the FOCUS churches. “For more than 50 years, FOCUS has created a community called to be a collective voice – and a helping hand – for those in need.”

Yeah, I COULD have blown it off, but I like supporting FOCUS. Moreover, singing together with people from other congregations is fun. So I took the 910 bus down to the state capitol and walked the two slippery, frigid (<0F, c. -20C) blocks to Emmanuel, where about 25 of us got to sing a couple of songs together.

Pastor Kathy gave a good sermon. She noted that Jesus took a public stand against a faith system that offered religious cover for political violence. My, did THAT resonate!

Covenant

We always recite the FOCUS covenant. It has changed a bit since the collective formed in the mid-1960s, but the spirit of service has not been altered;

We believe that we are called by God to discern amid the many shapes of need and pain around us, the design of Christ’s mandate for our shared ministry.
We covenant, therefore, with God and with one another:
to engage in a search for faithful and effective forms of ministry;
to provide a ministry of presence, support, and advocacy for the victims of society’s injustice and neglect;
to speak the truth in places of power on behalf of the powerless;
to equip ourselves for the service of Christ through joint educational and community-building ventures;
and to celebrate in worship the meaning of our shared mission.

We commit to these purposes our prayers, our time, our talent, and our material resources with the hope that our life and work together in this time and place will demonstrate the liberating and reconciling power of the gospel.

What now?

After the service, I talked to several people about how they were doing and what they were doing to keep themselves sane these days. One worked at the FOCUS food pantry, and another served meals at the FOCUS breakfast club. Serving others gave them hope.

Another person I’ve known for a long time talked about volunteering at RISSE, whose mission is “to support refugees and immigrants to build new lives and thrive in the Capital Region… through language classes, immigration and employment assistance, youth programming, and case management. The service is not very far from my house. (Related: from WRGB-TV, Channel 6 -Local schools prepare for immigration policy changes.)

Yet another person suggested checking out a website called Indivisible. When I got home, I went to the website, but I was wary. The most geographically specific site was labeled: All in for Harris/Walz Action Team Capital Region NY.

Nevertheless, I wrote in an email titled, “What actions are you doing re: DOGE?” along with this Democracy Now video. Beth from Bethlehem Indivisible replied, “Lots of phone calls to electeds, and after last night’s Indivisible Mass Call, we are planning office visits to Schumer and Gillibrand, which is the most important thing right now.”

So, I’m “in the loop” on what I hope is a fruitful experience. (Oh, Kelly is writing to his Member of Congress.) I’m tired of being tired, frustrated, and angry without direction. Is this THE answer? Dunno. But I need to do SOMETHING that seems to be a response to political violence.

Genealogy blocked

Hey, I wrote to my state legislators about a potential change in NYS law that would hurt genealogical research.

“As part of New York State’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal, Part U of the Health and Mental Hygiene Legislation would:

😡 Extend embargo periods to 125 years for birth records, 100 years for marriages, and 75 years for deaths — making New York one of the most restrictive states for vital records access in the entire country!
😡 Hike fees by more than 400%, raising the cost of a single genealogical record request to $95!
🤬 Eliminate even the basic vital records indexes, making it nearly impossible to simply confirm if a record exists in the first place!”

Read here and especially here, and if you’re in New York State, contact your state legislators before 5 pm on Tuesday, February 11.

Stop Project 2025 comic!

It includes enabling the president to have much more power than the constitution allows.

Here’s your problem: trying to tell all your friends about Stop Project 2025 and why they should care. It’s difficult because the plan is dense, vaguely incomprehensible, and perhaps a little bit boring. I point to this great page, which is quite thorough.

It includes a 38-minute video, a quiz, and lots of words—important words, to be sure, but still. It does direct you to that four-and-a-half-minute song I’ve linked to before.

Several people created the Stop Project 2025 Comic, which you should share. Why did they make this?

“We’ve made comics to explain some of that agenda, and move you to vote against it.

“We did this because you shouldn’t have to read this monstrosity. After all, it’s more than fifty times as long as the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution…combined.

“Our two founding documents are short because it doesn’t take a lot of words to say, ‘You matter, and you have a voice.’

“Project 2025 is longer because it’s a detailed plan to shut you up and shut you out.

“Don’t let it do either.

“Read on, then vote.”

Project 2025 is a detailed plan to shut you up and shut you out.

You matter, and you have a voice.

Related – Election Subversion 2024: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Is immigration something you do or something you are?

When Trump Rants, This Is What I Hear from Carlos Lozado, a NY Times writer who came to the United States at age three, is touching. The article is probably behind a firewall, but here are a few paragraphs.

djt’s “eating the dogs” rant prompted Lozado “to look back on his xenophobic cacophony, building so relentlessly over the past decade, in attacks that have narrowed the distance for me between immigration as a memory and being an immigrant as a present identity…

“When Trump told four Democratic women in Congress to ‘go back’ to their countries, he unknowingly trivialized how often I’ve gone back in my mind, wondering what that other life, that other person, might have been like.

“When he mocked immigrants for not speaking English, he ignored the interplay between native tongues and new ones and how demanding purity in language — and in people — is utterly self-defeating.

“How can immigrants ‘poison the blood’ of the nation when we have always been its lifeblood? With his accusations, Trump is administering his own brand of venom, one whose cumulative effect is to disfigure a nation, not exalt it.”

Project 2025: Schoolhouse Rock-like

immigration

You don’t need to read about the 900-page Project 2025. “Here’s a look at Project 2025 as it might be explained if Schoolhouse Rock was still around.”

“Delete the terms sexual orientation, gender equality, awareness and sensitivity, diversity, equity, inclusion, abortion, reproductive health, and reproductive rights out of every rule, regulation, contract, grant, and piece of federal legislation that exists…” and that’s an actual quote.

Immigration

“Project 2025 proposes to severely roll back both legal and unauthorized immigration through a number of untested, novel approaches that extend far beyond the policies of Trump’s first term. The plan would potentially make hundreds of thousands of people vulnerable to deportation through the loss of temporary protected status, and could ensnare their families, those they live with, and other members of their communities. Extreme anti-immigration organization the Center for Immigration Studies has partnered with Project 2025 in supporting these radical immigration policy ideas.”

But you don’t have to wait until 2025. djt put the kibosh on the admittedly imperfect bipartisan bill this year.

Worse, JD Vance was on the Sunday morning talk shows on 9/15, admitting on CNN the stories he and djt spewed regarding Haitian immigrants were bogus. He defended his lies, “If I have to create stories to get the media to pay attention then that’s what I’ll do!” Vance says he and his running mate have to “create stories” about migrants eating cats and dogs “so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people.”

WHAT? The real-world consequences of these unfounded, unhinged rantings are substantial.

As the Guardian noted, Vance was saying, “‘Basically, if I have to lie and demonize innocent people and they are then targeted for violence by my hateful unhinged followers, I will. Collateral damage. So what? Because that’s what it takes to scare Republicans into voting for me.’ I don’t care how you slice it; that’s right out of the Josef Goebbels Reich Minister of Propaganda playbook.”

Community asset

Meanwhile, the Haitian immigrants in Springfield, OH, are a boon to the industry in town.

Weekly Sift guy writes: “How racism manifests. To begin with, the Haitian Fright of 2024 provides a teaching opportunity about racism. I am constantly seeing accounts from White people online and on television, who believe they are not racist because they don’t internally experience what they imagine racism to be: a blind and senseless hatred of other races. ‘I don’t hate anyone,’they claim, and believe that they are telling the truth.But the Haitian Fright points out a more subtle and widespread kind of racism: a propensity to believe (and even pass on) negative stories about other races without requiring evidence.”

Another important point: “Many Americans claim that they don’t object to immigrants per se, but only to illegal immigrants. If people would only come to America ‘the right way, as my ancestors did,’ they would be welcomed…

“You know who else is here the right way? The Haitians in Springfield. They qualify for a program known as ‘temporary protected status,’ which provides legal status to people from countries that (because of either natural disaster or political unrest) are not safe to return to. Others came ‘as part of a parole program that allows citizens and lawful residents to apply to have their family members from Haiti come to the United States.'”

Finally, “As for the liberal memes, I have changed my mind several times. Yes, Trump deserves to be ridiculed for this. And yet I find myself agreeing with media studies scholar Whitney Phillips:

While Phillips said she doesn’t begrudge people “having fun online,” she warned that liberals who think they’re cutting Trump down to size risk giving oxygen to a trope that ultimately plays into his hands — and endangers the Haitians who were its original targets.

“When you’re making a joke using the frame” of immigrants as cultural invaders, she said, even if you’re pushing back on it, “the frame is still amplified.”