Agencies serving immigrants work towards collaboration

By DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications
 
The immigrant community is fearful of potential increased immigration enforcement in the coming days and months, Amy Bloch, executive director of Catholic Charities said.
 
“I believe all our agencies are really getting bombarded with phone calls from clients or individuals in the community who are afraid,” she said. “They are afraid of what’s going to happen and what does it mean for them or their family members or their businesses.”
 
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Sioux City operates the Welcome program which offers immigration legal help, mental health services and case management for anyone in need of the assistance. Welcome services are fully funded by the Diocese of Sioux City.

 

Welcome immigration attorney Revathi Vongsiprasom and Case Manager Norma Garza-Ramirez at the prayer rally in support of immigrants last June.

After attending a community meeting that included several agency leaders working in immigration, Bloch and Norma Garza-Ramirez, Welcome case manager, discussed the benefits of meeting with other area organizations to discover how each are currently addressing the needs of their clients.
 
“There’s so many people doing really good work, but we’re all kind of working in silos to try to provide support, education and resources related to the immigrant community. I don’t know that everybody knew what the other group was doing, so the issue is more how can we all be stronger by working together?” Bloch explained.
 
Approximately 20 agencies are invited to attend an organizational meeting next week to share what they are doing to serve the immigration community, resources available and explore future collaboration.
 
“We’re trying to look at how we as a community support people, people who are struggling now,” she said. “We can look at what else we might want to do as a group and maybe forming a more formal coalition and what that might look like.”
 
Groups invited for this initial meeting include area service agencies, immigrant resettlement agencies, immigration attorneys and law enforcement. Faith leaders working with the immigrant community including Bishop Lorna Halaas of the Western Iowa Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Father David Esquiliano, pastor of the largely diverse Sioux City Cathedral Parish.
 
“The feedback from several of (the invitees) is that they were very excited by it and grateful that we are all going to gather together,” Bloch said.
 
The participating religious leaders said they are pleased to look at working with like-minded groups to help those suffering in their communities.
 
“Anytime we come together looking for ways to help people to improve their lives is a great thing,” Father Esquiliano said. “Unfortunately, this is a politicized subject. For us, it is not about politics or what platform. It’s what the Gospel says.”

 “As ELCA Lutherans, it is a privilege and a priority to partner with other denominations and organizations to advocate for our immigrant brothers and sisters,” Bishop Halaas said of the collaboration. “I am grateful for the work of Catholic Charities and the consistent voice of Catholic leaders speaking on behalf of our neighbors. It is good to be church together as we live out the Gospel in this community in these challenging days.” 

Support for individuals
Bloch said Catholic Charities and other agencies working with immigrants are fielding numerous requests for information and guidance on a variety of immigration-related issues. For example, there are some immigrants who have U-visas, T-visas and work visas that no longer have meaning.
 

Amy Bloch

“We’ve heard from multiple parents who aren’t sending kids to school. Also, kids who are showing up to school and are scared they’re going to go home and their parents will be gone or were detained,” she said.
 
With these and numerous other situations, Bloch said Catholic Charities and other agencies are determining how they can support their clients and educating immigrants on their rights.
 
“Regardless of your status, everybody has rights. That’s what all these organizations are focused on. Supporting and educating those in our community and making sure you’re not letting people fall through the cracks,” she explained. “It’s responding to the crisis.”
 
Catholic Charities has compiled and distributed Know Your Rights documents in English and Spanish for distribution. They also obtained pocket-sized Know Your Rights folders to present to law enforcement if detained. Another area agency is offering virtual Know Your Rights training twice per week.
 
“We’re going to be doing some of the Know Your Rights presentations in the next couple of months throughout the diocese,” the executive director said.
 
Welcome was launched in the fall of 2022 to assist immigrants. Bloch pointed out that the Welcome clients are often individuals who would never have access to immigration legal assistance.
 
“The gratitude expressed by the clients we serve is overwhelming,” she stressed.
 
Welcome the stranger
Father Esquiliano referenced Matthew 25 as it outlines the Gospel values surrounding care of immigrants.
 Father David Esquiliano“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come you who are blessed by my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For when I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me.’” Mt 25:31-36
 
“For us, welcoming the stranger is a Gospel imperative,” the priest concluded.