Articles
Immigrant Advocates Say Makeup of New Congress Will Make Reform Tough
By Michelle Martin
Nov. 12, 2010
SCHILLER PARK, Ill. (CNS) -- The effort to enact a comprehensive reform of immigration law is going to be a whole lot harder with the new Congress, according to panelists at a national Justice for Immigrants gathering in Schiller Park Nov. 3-8.
For the next two years, the best immigration bill might be no bill at all, said Stuart Anderson of the National Foundation for American Policy, speaking on a panel titled "A Pro-Immigration Agenda for the 112th Congress."
More than 200 immigration advocates from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, dioceses across the country and the People Improving Communities Through Organizing network, known as PICO, gathered to talk about immigration, church teaching and how Catholics can best advocate for reform.
Wills prepared in case of deportation
Nov. 11, 2010
What happens to your money and other possessions after you're gone? Normally, that's a question dealt with in a will, preparing in advance by deciding, now, who gets what.
But the very same issues can apply much earlier in life for undocumented immigrants. As deportations have increased, they face a struggle to protect their assets before they're gone -- from the country.
Marketplace's Jeff Tyler reports.
Priced Out of the American Dream
October 26, 2010 — Mid-level federal bureaucrats don’t often attract sizable media contingents. But that’s where Andrea Quarantillo found herself last week, standing at a touch-screen monitor as a circle of reporters, flipcams at the ready, jostled for a view.
Quarantillo is the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ district office in New 
York City, which on Oct. 20 held its first-ever open house. The event attracted several hundred visitors, mostly immigrants and their advocates, who had the opportunity to ask questions about cases and concerns while their children were greeted by employees dressed as Uncle Sam and Abe Lincoln. It also drew a couple dozen members of the press — reporters for ethnic and international outlets, but also CNN, The Associated Press, and The New York Times — who came to hear USCIS’s pitch about how it is remaking itself. Those touch-screen computer stations, which allow immigrants to schedule appointments with case officers, stand at the entrance to an expansive “customer service” floor. They are part of the agency’s ongoing effort to offer better services to people overseas who want to migrate to the U.S., and to immigrants who want to become permanent residents and American citizens.
While political debate tends to focus on undocumented immigrants, the legal pathway to immigration has long been notoriously slow, complicated, and inefficient. But, many advocates and attorneys say, there has been real — if not yet sufficient — improvement over the past three or four years. Straightforward applications, which earlier this decade routinely took years to process, are now usually completed within months. (It can still take many years to get a visa or a green card, but most delays are now the result not of administrative backlogs, but of annual statutory caps on the number of visas, green cards, and other authorizations the government can issue.)
U.S. Bishops Stress Needs of Haitian Women, Children
WASHINGTON, D.C., AUG. 16, 2010 (Zenit.org).- A delegation from the U.S. bishops' conference noted that reconstruction in Haiti has been slow, and the women and children in that country especially need protection from crime. The delegation from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is preparing a report to be released next month, in which they will publicize their findings from a July 26-Aug. 2 trip to the Caribbean region.
Bishops' Delegation Finds Haiti Mission Both Disturbing and Hopeful
August 6, 2010
WASHINGTON DC (MetroCatholic) – The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 
(USCCB) sponsored a delegation July 26-August 2 to Haiti and the Caribbean region to examine the plight of Haitians impacted by the January 12 earthquake.
The Church & Immigration Part II: Facing Legal Challenges
Catholic News Service
June 22, 2010
By Chaz Muth
Migrating to the U.S. is not a simple process and U.S. church leaders believe the current system is unfair, prohibitive, and keeps impoverished immigrants needlessly separated from their families.
View the story here: The Church and Immigration Part II: Facing Legal Challenges.
Bishops want Illegal Immigration solved at root
By Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service
Published in Arkansas Catholic
WASHINGTON -- Bishops of the United States, Canada, Central America and the Caribbean called on their governments to address the economic root causes of migration and seek policies that will help create jobs for people in their homelands.
New visa rules hurt recruitment of foreign priests
By Jennifer Garza
May 30, 2010
With his gentle nature and easy laugh, the Rev. Jovito Rata was well-liked by his parishioners at Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Redding. The priest stunned churchgoers last year when he announced at Sunday Mass that he had three days to leave the country and return to the Philippines because of complications with his visa.
College of New Rochelle to Confer 1,200 Degrees
CLINIC Executive Director Maria Odom to Receive Honorary Degree
The College of New Rochelle (CNR) will celebrate its 103rd Commencement as it graduates the Class of 2010. The College will award approximately 1,200 baccalaureate and master’s degrees during commencement exercises on Thursday, May 27, 2010, 11:00 a.m. at Radio City Music Hall.
Immigrant Integration
Immigrant Integration
Bishops Educate, Advocate for Humane Treatment of Illegal Immigrants
May 26, 2010
WASHINGTON — No matter where Americans stand on illegal immigration, the U.S. bishops hope they will first look at the people involved as individuals who need to be treated humanely.
