Posted on 07/21/2014 3:24:59 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
I'm home from a week of lobbying in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the refugee children on our southern border. There were 13 of us, 11 from Loretto and two from our Guatemalan sister community, Sagrada Familia. We had appointments with 25 senators and representatives, plus other drop-in visits. We crossed the Capitol between the House and Senate office buildings three or four times each day.
NETWORK, LCWR and the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission lent staff to help us refine our message. Maruca and Yolanda from Guatemala told and retold tough accounts of children leaving home to escape gangs, to buy medicine, to escape abuse. One of the staffers asked what it was like in a village when children decided to go north. Did several of them jump onto the train together? Maruca said when the decision was made, the family went to a village coyote, paid him and made arrangements for the child's travel. Families know the risks of entrusting their children to thecoyotes, but it's a better choice to them than keeping the child at home.
It was right for us to be there in D.C., carrying our message. But will our visit have any effect? Not as much as we hope for, I suspect. Probably the law that requires an investigation of each child's account of why they came will be restricted. But we hope it will not be repealed or gutted. Children who come because of poverty are not eligible to stay, but those who are at risk of violence from gangs or drug traffickers or abusers are eligible.
The problem is that children don't easily report the dangers they faced. They are ashamed of sex abuse. Their cousins might be the traffickers. The gangs have threatened them. It takes time and skill -- and language facility -- to draw out a child. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates that at least half the children are eligible for admission to the United States because of the risks they face at home. And that's what the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, passed in 2008, is meant to ensure. Let's not retreat from the moral high ground when we are tested.
Our recommendations for how the special appropriations should be spent probably will not be fully followed. I imagine some money will go to border security because politics demands it, even though the border is secure. These children are turning themselves in to the first patrol officer they see. They are not sneaking in.
But I do hope none of the money marked for the State Department will go to further militarize Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Again, one of the staffers asked us if it isn't important to beef up the military so they can control the gangs and traffickers. We explained that the military never does good policing. Soldiers are trained to obey orders and to shoot first. Police are trained to investigate, sort out conflicting accounts and listen to the community. There is plenty of police corruption in Central America, but in Guatemala, for example, the current president has been replacing the police with soldiers, and unsolved murders are again on the rise.
Most of all, Health and Human Services needs money. Their coffers are expected to run dry in mid-August. If Congress does not act now, there will be no money to detain and care for children. Perhaps they will all be put in local jails, or perhaps for a couple of weeks the borders will simply be open to children and their lives will depend on the kindness of strangers. I don't know if there are that many kind strangers. So I hope Congress understands it needs to act now.
“Catholic Charities should be responsible for these illegal aliens.”
And they can support them back where they come from. If Catholics have a problem with `rendering unto Caesar, they can move to Honduras, Guatemala, etc.
GTHO>
Time to tax the Church.
Mary Ann McGivern
Drawing Caterpillar Out Of Its Corporate Cocoon: Company Should Examine Its Role in Mideast Violence
LIAT WEINGART,
VALERIE HEINONEN AND
MARY ANN MCGIVERN
28 April 2004
On April 14, an American corporation was confronted with the choice of whether or not to examine their role in perpetuating the cycle of violence in the Mideast. An alliance of Catholic nuns and Jewish peace activists teamed up to introduce a shareholder resolution asking Caterpillar, Inc. to conduct an internal investigation to determine if the use of their bulldozers to violate human rights laws goes against corporate policies. In fact, it was the first time ever that a shareholder resolution relating to human rights violations in the occupied territories has been brought before a US corporation. Though the odds against the resolution were tremendous, it still garnered 4% of the vote, enough to be re-introduced next year.
Slaves of Caesar, all for the shekels
Green Party sues Secretary of State - Missouri Digital News
www.mdn.org/2000/STORIES/GREENPTY.HTM
Aug 31, 2000 - Missouri Digital News (MDN) story: Mary Ann McGivern, a Catholic nun, wants to run as the Green Party candidate for Attorney General.
The Green Party’s candidate for Attorney General has filed suit against Missouri’s Secretary of State.
The Secretary of State’s office says Mary Ann McGivern cannot run for Attorney General because she does not have a law license.
However, McGivern says the Missouri Constitution does not require a candidate to be a lawyer.
Even though McGivern does not have a law license, she says she has a good capacity to be Attorney General.
http://www.mdn.org/2000/STORIES/GREENPTY.HTM
They get paid big bucks for the privilege.
This person is a schismatic "sister" - the Lorettos lost their way a long time ago and ignore the Sacraments and the Church in favor of "social justice" (which is neither), women's ordination, reiki, labyrinths, and all the other New Age radical nonsense.
My cat is a better Catholic.
The Catholic church has sold its soul for a few shekels from Clown Prince nobama. For shame. Also abetting these illegal alien invaders is treason. For shame. Tax the church. Seize their property if they aid and abet the invading enemies of America.
Catholic Charities is well funded by the Obama regime (with tax payer money), as is that “Baptist” organization making the news last week.
Tactical Marxism infiltrates, and charitable organizations are an easy mark when they are open to government money, funded by political interests to be used as slush funds.
One of those left-wing christians highlighted in another article here.
If churches and individuals give their own money, it is charity. If they lobby government to soak taxpayers, it is legalized theft.
Help them back to country of origin.
that's not what the WWTVPRA was meant to ensure at all. And the UN can go pound sand. Note that they don't want a military presence to clean up the country because it's the children's cousins and families who are the criminals. Oh, and they want the local corrupt police, some of whom are coyotes, to stay. Lovely. So it's not, let's fix Guatamala or Mexico or ElSalvador so we can go home, it's just, give us your home instead and we'll keep ours too.
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