Catholic Church solidly behind immigration reform
We attended a special mass on Sunday attended by 5,000 people supporting immigration reform at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles. It was presided over by Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, with Auxiliary Bishop Alexander Salazar and Cardinal Roger Mahony also participating.
This mass symbolized the Catholic Church’s unqualified embrace of the immigrants among us as well as its strong support for meaningful immigration reform, including the bipartisan comprehensive bill passed by the U.S. Senate last year with its agricultural provisions that the United Farm Workers helped fashion with the nation’s growers letting immigrant farm workers earn legal status by continuing to work on U.S. farms.
During those dark days in the 1990s, when politicians engaged in cynical immigrant bashing and scapegoating, two institutions that stood up against intolerance and prejudice were the Catholic Church and the labor movement. Together, we continue working for the common sense reforms that are supported by the great majority of Americans.
Arturo S. Rodriguez, President
United Farm Workers of America