Dominican University is unique among Catholic colleges for its commitment to immigrants. About 10 percent of the students at Dominican University are undocumented or have temporary legal status, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. This episode features an interview with Donna Carroll, president of Dominican University. She reflects on the challenges facing undocumented college students, including: lack of federal financial aid funding, the difficulty of career planning, and integrating into campus life. She also talks about the leadership of undocumented and “DACAmented” students and why the university adopted a Sanctuary Campus Covenant in 2017. Carroll describes the university’s efforts to support immigrant students during the “triple pandemics” of COVID-19, racism, and economic injustice — all of which have been exacerbated by restrictionist immigration policies.

In recent years, many Catholic grade schools have had to shut their doors due to funding issues. This trend has accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Partnership Schools, a network of nine elementary and middle schools in urban areas of New York and Cleveland, is trying to stem the tide of Catholic school closings. Their network is taking a unique approach to funding, relying heavily on philanthropic support and keeping costs down, while maintaining high-quality education. In this episode, we hear from Jill Kafka, the executive director of Partnerships Schools, and Abigail Akano, principal of Sacred Heart School in the Bronx, one of the schools in the Partnership network. They describe how the network works, how they seek to include immigrant students and their parents, and why they created an emergency COVID-19 assistance fund to support families in their network.

Sister Gabriela Ramírez, MGSpS, is the Director of Hispanic Catholic Social Services (or “La Casita” as it’s known to community members) in the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama. In “normal times,” La Casita provides low-cost immigration legal services, language assistance, adult education, and religious formation. Since the start of the pandemic, La Casita has shifted many of its regular services to remote platforms and sent food boxes to community members. Sr. Gabriela has also been instrumental in making COVID-19 testing available to immigrants at local parishes.

The mission of the Scalabrinian order is to accompany people on the move. In the COVID-19 era, it is harder than ever to live out that mission. In this episode, we hear from Rev. José Juan Cervantes González, c.s., a Scalabrini priest who runs the Casa Scalabrini – Centro de Pastoral Migratoria in Guadalajara, Mexico. He is working to get the permission of the Mexican government to reopen the organization’s shelter and has stepped up advocacy efforts on behalf of migrants during the pandemic. We’ll also hear from Rev. Peter Ciallella, a Scalabrini priest by training who has settled in the Diocese of Hamilton in Canada. He has found new ways to reach out to migrant farmworkers during the pandemic, and like Rev. José Juan, he has become a stronger advocate since the start of the pandemic. Despite the challenges of this moment, Rev. José Juan and Rev. Peter are finding new ways to strengthen their ministries and cooperating with health officials to ensure safety.

This episode of CMSOnAir features an interview with Anna Gallagher, the executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. (CLINIC). She explains how CLINIC supports lawyers across the country as they adapt to the fast-paced policy changes of the current administration. She also discusses her concerns about access to asylum on the US-Mexico border and CLINIC’s Estamos Unidos Asylum Project in Ciudad Juarez — a response to the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) or “Remain in Mexico” program.

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Photo by Max Böhme on Unsplash

This episode of CMSOnAir features an interview with Josiah Heyman, Professor of Anthropology, Endowed Professor of Border Trade Issues, and Director of the University of Texas, El Paso’s Center for Interamerican and Border Studies. CMS’s communications coordinator Emma Winters asks Josiah Heyman about a CMS Essay he authored with Jeremy Slack and Daniel E. Martínez. The essay, titled “Why Border Patrol Agents and CBP Officers Should Not Serve as Asylum Officers,” examines findings from the Migrant Border Crossing Survey and concludes that US Border Patrol agents and other CBP officers should not serve as asylum officers because they “abuse migrants, physically and verbally, with significant frequency.” In the episode, Josiah Heyman also presents a positive vision of the US-Mexico border and lifts up Annunciation House as an example of the openness and generosity of border communities.

Related Publications:

Why Border Patrol Agents and CBP Officers Should Not Serve as Asylum Officers

https://cmsny.org/publications/heyman-slack-martinez-062119/

A Voice of the US Southwestern Border: The 2012 “We the Border: Envisioning a Narrative for Our Future” Conference

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/233150241300100201

Does the United States Need to Invest More in Border Enforcement?

https://cmsny.org/publications/essay-kerwin-warren-051619/

This episode of CMSOnAir features an interview with Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso Texas. CMS’s communications coordinator Emma Winters asks Bishop Seitz about his recent pastoral letter, “Night Will Be No More.” The letter, a direct response to the August 3 [2019] Walmart massacre, condemns racism and white supremacy, examines the legacy of hate in the borderlands, and says to all: “Tú vales, you count.” Bishop Seitz also discusses the 2019 Border Mass, the El Paso Diocese fund to aid asylum seekers stuck in Ciudad Juarez, and why families should be at the heart of our immigration system.

For more information and a transcript of this episode, visit: https://cmsny.org/multimedia/bishop-seitz

Further Reading

Border Spirituality: ‘Tu eres mi otro yo’

https://cmsny.org/publications/tomasilecture2019/

A Catholic Reflection on Host Communities

https://cmsny.org/publications/fernandez-reflection-host-communities/

This episode of CMSOnAir features an interview with David FitzGerald, Theodore E. Gildred Chair in US-Mexican Relations, Professor of Sociology, and Co-Director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego.

CMS’s researcher Mike Nicholson asks FitzGerald about the concept of “remote controls,” new constraints on asylum seekers, and the impact of wealthy democracies closing their doors to migrants.

FitzGerald’s book, Refuge Beyond Reach: How Rich Democracies Repel Asylum Seekers, is now available from Oxford University Press. To keep up with FitzGerald’s work, you can follow him on Twitter, @FitzGeraldUCSD, or check out the website of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies.

FURTHER READING

Deterrence without Protection of Asylum Seekers

https://cmsny.org/martin-7-24-19/

What’s Less Patriotic Than Abandonment of the US Refugee Protection Program?

https://cmsny.org/publications/kerwin071919/

Refugees Have Few Options, We Have a Lot More

https://cmsny.org/publications/al-muqdad-053019/

The Impact of Externalization of Migration Controls on the Rights of Asylum Seekers and Other Migrants

https://cmsny.org/publications/jmhs-impact-of-externalization/

The End of the Deterrence Paradigm? Future Directions for Global Refugee Policy

https://cmsny.org/publications/jmhs-sc-globalrefugee/

The Khmer Rouge led by Marxist leader Pol Pot came to power in Cambodia in 1975. For four years, the regime emptied cities and forced virtually all of Cambodia’s population into labor camps where people were starved, overworked, tortured, and executed. It is estimated that nearly two million people died.

This two-part CMSOnAir series features an interview with author, chef, and manufacturer of Cambodian foods, Channy Chhi Laux. In her memoir, Short Hair Detention, Chhi Laux chronicles the suffering her and her family endured under the Khmer Rouge. Only 13 years old when the Communists took over, Chhi Laux was torn away from her family and forced to work in a remote labor camp. She and her family were eventually resettled in Lincoln, Nebraska. Despite not knowing a word of English when she arrived in the United States at the age of 17, Chhi Laux quickly flourished, graduating high school, obtaining undergraduate degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and earning a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics from Santa Clara University. She worked in Silicon Valley as an engineer in the aerospace and biotech industries for 30 years before starting her own business, Angkor Cambodian Food, and publishing her memoir. In the first episode, Chhi Laux discusses her memoir and surviving under the Khmer Rouge. In the second episode, Chhi Laux shares her experiences of being resettled in Nebraska as a refugee and adjusting to life in the United States.

For more information on Channy Chhi Laux visit her at channychhilaux.com. Chhi Laux’s memoir, Short Hair Detention, is available for purchase on Amazon.

For more information on CMS's research, publications, and events, visit cmsny.org

The Khmer Rouge led by Marxist leader Pol Pot came to power in Cambodia in 1975. For four years, the regime emptied cities and forced virtually all of Cambodia’s population into labor camps where people were starved, overworked, tortured, and executed. It is estimated that nearly two million people died.

This two-part CMSOnAir series features an interview with author, chef, and manufacturer of Cambodian foods, Channy Chhi Laux. In her memoir, Short Hair Detention, Chhi Laux chronicles the suffering her and her family endured under the Khmer Rouge. Only 13 years old when the Communists took over, Chhi Laux was torn away from her family and forced to work in a remote labor camp. She and her family were eventually resettled in Lincoln, Nebraska. Despite not knowing a word of English when she arrived in the United States at the age of 17, Chhi Laux quickly flourished, graduating high school, obtaining undergraduate degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and earning a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics from Santa Clara University. She worked in Silicon Valley as an engineer in the aerospace and biotech industries for 30 years before starting her own business, Angkor Cambodian Food, and publishing her memoir. In the first episode, Chhi Laux discusses her memoir and surviving under the Khmer Rouge. In the second episode, Chhi Laux shares her experiences of being resettled in Nebraska as a refugee and adjusting to life in the United States.

For more information on Channy Chhi Laux visit her at channychhilaux.com. Chhi Laux’s memoir, Short Hair Detention, is available for purchase on Amazon.

For more information on CMS's research, publications, and events, visit cmsny.org