With immigration-blocking Title 42 ending soon, about 150 people of faith gathered downtown Sunday to “put our bodies where our hearts are,” said the Rev. Scott Santarosa.
Santarosa, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Logan Heights, led parishioners and supporters in prayer for migrants making their way to the U.S.-Mexico border to seek asylum.
Title 42, the policy started under President Donald Trump, used the coronavirus pandemic to keep migrants out of the country, saying foreigners were a health risk. It ends Thursday.
The prayer vigil in front of the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building began a novena — a nine-day program of prayer that will be a joint effort of Jesuit-affiliated institutions (Kino Border Initiative, Nogales; Sacred Heart Parish, El Paso; plus parishes throughout the U.S.) and people along the Southern U.S. border.
While most attendees were parishioners from Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, other supporters joined them, singing songs and saying the rosary in Spanish.
“It is very important for people of all different backgrounds to show up (for) this issue of migrants,” said Yusef Miller of the Islamic Society of North County. “Families are being separated, families are being tortured, they run from oppression, and they come here seeking asylum.
“And this is a place that should have its arms open, so myself as an African-American, myself as a Muslim, I find it my responsibility to stand with my Catholic brothers and sisters, my migrant brothers and sisters to ask for justice for these people.”
Santarosa said the gathering was praying for a just, humane and compassionate asylum process.
“We hope that that will happen,” the pastor said. “We have left our church because it’s not enough just to pray in the confines of our church, but we need to put our bodies where are hearts are and lift our voices, so they can be heard and be seen.”
Santarosa said the migrant issue touches an important nerve for the community because the area is a community of immigrants.
The priests said they chose the location for the vigil because parishioners know the federal building where they’ve had issues with immigration officials.
“Some of them have petitioned for asylum or humanitarian parole or their own process for getting documents, so this is an important topic for our people” Santarosa said.
The priest said he was surprised by reactions to the idea of holding a vigil.
“I didn’t know how positive it would be, but it’s been incredibly positive, so we planned on maybe 75 people,” he said. “We got twice that.”
Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish is a Roman Catholic parish of the Diocese of San Diego, staffed by Jesuits since 1940. It has a long history of serving as a home and advocate for Mexican immigrants as well as the larger Latino Catholic community of San Diego.
The parish is a member of the San Diego Organizing Project, a nonpartisan, multifaith network of faith communities representing some 70,000 families across San Diego County.
Mary Waskowiak of the Sisters of Mercy, who works at Casa de Misericordia near Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and joined the vigil, said afterward, “This was very hopeful and very inspiring. Our sisters and brothers in the country beyond need a safe place.”