New Orleans Shared Parishes Mobilizing Resistance to ICE Enforcement

Presentation by Dr. Sue Weishar, Parish Volunteer and Chairperson of El Pueblo Mississippi; former Policy and Research Fellow, Jesuit Social Research Institute, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA.  Center for Migration Studies, March 13 2025 (edited transcript).

A shared parish is one that offers liturgies and services in multiple languages and cultural contexts. Nationally, about 30% of U.S. parishes fit this category, often serving both English- and Spanish-speaking communities. Given the recent escalation of deportation efforts, our response has had to evolve rapidly.

Who is Organizing These Efforts? The newly formed social justice committees at these two parishes are leading the initiative. These committees, created within the past year, include both Latino and Anglo parishioners and operate bilingually. The pastors of both parishes are deeply involved and supportive, as they are closely connected with their immigrant parishioners. As the coordinator, I bring experience from teaching ESL at both parishes, allowing me to bridge connections between immigrant and Anglo members.

Why Are We Doing This? Our actions are rooted in faith. As Christians, we believe in the unity of the Body of Christ: when one part suffers, all suffer. The current aggressive enforcement actions are dehumanizing and violate the dignity of our immigrant sisters and brothers. This situation mirrors past injustices, such as child separation at the border, which the American public successfully resisted. We believe that, as citizens of a democracy, we have the power to stop these abuses.

Our Action Plan Our immediate focus is on education, protection, and solidarity. We have conducted “Know Your Rights” workshops in partnership with Loyola Law School, led by Professor Hiroko Kusuda and retired law professor Bill Quigley. These workshops ensure that immigrant parishioners understand their rights, reducing ICE’s ability to exploit fear and misinformation.

Beyond education, we are developing safety and solidarity plans for three key scenarios:

1. ICE Entering the Church During Spanish Mass
   • A protocol has been established involving the priest, ushers, and a parish response team.
   • The priest will act as the spokesperson, instructing the congregation to remain calm and asserting their legal rights.
   • A Solidarity Rapid Response Team, consisting of documented parishioners, will arrive with rosaries, signs, and cell phones to document events and alert the media.
2. ICE Waiting Outside the Church
   • A protocol similar to the above, with an emphasis on safely escorting parishioners to their vehicles.
   • Community members may patrol the surrounding area during Spanish Mass to ensure safety.
   • If ICE presence is detected, the Solidarity Rapid Response Team will gather outside the church peacefully.
3. ICE Conducting Enforcement at Homes or Workplaces
   • A dedicated hotline is being set up for parishioners to report ICE actions.
   • A contracted bilingual operator will verify the caller’s connection to the parish and then activate a response team.
   • The team will arrive to provide prayerful, visible solidarity, notify media outlets, and ensure any legal support needed.

Future Plans Once our safety plans are fully operational, we will shift our focus toward advocacy. This includes:

• Expanding our solidarity networks by inviting Anglo parishioners from other churches to join.
• Helping additional shared parishes develop response plans.
• Exploring legal support options for immediate response to ICE detentions, including securing attorneys and bond funding.
• Engaging with legislators to oppose mass deportations and support humane immigration policies.

Conclusion Inspired by Pope Francis, we are committed to keeping our hearts open, forging bonds of unity, and advocating for justice. Together, through faith and action, we can resist the injustices targeting our immigrant brothers and sisters. Amen.

 

This from TRAC (published March 25 with ICE figures up through March 8):

The Trump administration continues to conceal most concrete details about its immigration enforcement activities – including where arrests are taking place, and who is being targeted and deported.…

Despite deploying staff from other agencies to assist in enforcement activities and ordering active-duty military to facilitate removals at the border, daily removals have failed to reach even the levels achieved by the previous administration. Indeed, President Trump’s removal record is growing worse with time rather than improving….

During the initial period at the end of January (January 26-31), ICE book-ins following arrests jumped to a daily average of 1,126. However, ICE was not able to sustain this level so that in the following period ICE book-ins following arrests fell to just 724 per day. This was 4.7 percent below Biden’s daily arrests of 759 during FY 2024….

Trump’s daily removals during the period of January 26-February 8 averaged just 693. This is 6.5 percent below the higher daily average of 742 under former President Biden. Now with an additional four weeks (28 days) added to the monitoring period, Trump’s daily removals for the period January 26 through March 8 averaged only 661 removals each day. This number is not only below its initial removal rate, but 10.9 percentage points lower than Biden’s daily average of 742.

However, the number of persons in detention, about 46,000, is higher than at any time during the Biden administration, per TRAC.

Thanks to Adam Isacson we know about some of the 238 Venezuelans flown to El Salvador. I have already posted about Jerce Reyes Barrios.  ICE did not list the names. CBS did here. The administration has said it is sure that all the Venezuelans deported are members of Tren de Aragua.

• Gustavo Adolfo Aguilera Agüero, 27, had lived in Dallas with his wife since December 2023, when they entered the United States with a port-of-entry appointment made using the CBP One app. In early February 2025, Aguilera was arrested while taking out the trash outside their home, his wife told the Miami Herald. He has a nine-month-old U.S. citizen son. His tattoos include his older, Venezuelan-born son’s name, his name and his mother’s name, and a reggaeton lyric. His mother says he has no criminal record.
• “JABV,” a 24-year-old who left Venezuela after state agents abducted and beat him for carrying out campaign work on behalf of opposition leader María Corina Machado in 2024. His attorney stated that he has no criminal record in the United States or Venezuela, no removal order, and “his tattoos are a Rose, a Clock, and a Crown with his son’s name on it.”
• Franco Caraballo, a 26-year-old barber detained in Dallas on February 3 when he reported to a regular check-in with ICE. His wife, Johanny Sánchez, insists he has no gang ties. “She struggles even to find logic in the accusation,” the Associated Press reported. Caraballo has several tattoos, including an image of a clock commemorating his daughter’s birthday. He had called Ms. Sánchez on the evening of March 14, Reuters reported, to tell her that he was probably being deported to Venezuela even though he had a pending asylum claim.
• “L.G.,” who has no removal order and a pending asylum claim. His attorney stated, “L.G. has three tattoos: one is a rosary, the other is his partner’s name, and the third is a rose and a clock.”
• Edwuar Hernández, a 23-year-old man from Maracaibo, was arrested along with three friends at the Dallas townhouse they shared on March 13. Relatives tell the Washington Post that he had no gang ties and no criminal record in Venezuela. (See the narrative for Mervyn Yamarte below.)
• Francisco Javier García Casique, a 24-year-old barber from Maracay, Venezuela, had a clean criminal record. He tried to make a living in Peru for four years before migrating to the United States. “He doesn’t belong to any criminal gang, either in the US or Venezuela… he’s not a criminal,” his mother told the BBC. “My brother doesn’t belong to any criminal group, has no criminal history or record in any country and they have unjustly sent him to El Salvador simply because of his tattoos,” the Guardian reported that his brother wrote on Instagram.
• Ali David Navas Vizcaya, who was detained in early 2024 when appearing for an appointment with ICE. His mother told AP, “he has no criminal record and suspects he may have been mistakenly identified as a Tren de Aragua member because of several tattoos.”
• Andy Javier Perozo, a 30-year-old father of five from Maracaibo who was doing food delivery gig work, was arrested along with three friends at the Dallas townhouse they shared on March 13. Relatives tell the Washington Post that he had no gang ties and no criminal record in Venezuela. (See the narrative for Mervyn Yamarte below.)
• Jerce Reyes Barrios, a 36-year-old former professional soccer player who was imprisoned and tortured after marching in two early 2024 demonstrations against the Maduro regime. Reyes has a tattoo of the Real Madrid soccer team’s logo and had a picture of himself in his social media feed making a rock-and-roll hand gesture that DHS officials decided was a gang sign. He had already submitted a document showing he had no criminal record and a declaration from the tattoo artist, to no avail. He has two daughters, aged two and six.
• Ringo Rincón, a 39-year-old man from Maracaibo, was arrested along with three friends at the Dallas townhouse they shared on March 13. Relatives tell the Washington Post that he had no gang ties and no criminal record in Venezuela. (See the narrative for Mervyn Yamarte below.)
• Anyelo Jose Sarabia, age 19, is an asylum seeker detained during a scheduled January 31, 2025 check-in with ICE in Dallas. His brother’s statement reads, “The tattoo on his left hand is of a rose with money as petals. A picture of the tattoo is below. He had that tattoo done in August 2024 in Arlington, Texas, because he thought it looked cool.” (His sister said something similar to Reuters.) Another tattoo is the words “strength and courage,” and another is a bible verse; both were applied by Anyelo’s brother, who has no criminal record in the United States or Venezuela.
• “E.V.,” who fled Venezuela after being imprisoned and tortured for participating in a 2022 protest. His attorney said he “has only one arrest in the U.S., which resolved with a non-criminal disposition under New York state law and for which he received a sentence of a one-year conditional discharge.” He has “tattoos of anime, flowers, and animals.”
• Henry Javier Vargas Lugo, a 32-year-old, had been living and working odd jobs in Aurora, Colorado, after trying to make a living as a mechanic in Colombia for seven years. He entered the United States with his mother and daughter. “He has several tattoos, including crowns with his niece and mother’s name, a clock on his arm, and a rosary,” the Miami Herald reported.
• Mervyn Yamarte, a 29-year-old who entered the United States in 2023 after passing through the Darién Gap and lived in Dallas, is “‘a good, hardworking boy’ who had never been involved in crime,” his mother told the Guardian and the BBC. His wife said the same to the Washington Post, which reported that armed ICE officers showed up on March 13 at the townhouse where he and three friends from Maracaibo (Edwuar Hernández, Andy Javier Perozo, and Ringo Rincón) had been living, and hauled them away. Yamarte’s younger brother witnessed the arrest; he said that the agents asked whether he had tattoos. One of Mervyn Yamarte’s tattoos is his daughter’s name. Another reads, “Strong like Mom.” Yamarte appears—shaved, wincing, but recognizable—in the video shared by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on March 16.
• An unnamed client of Lindsay Toczylowski, an attorney at the Los Angeles-based Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef), is an LGBTQ+ artist and asylum seeker whose tattoos included a verse from the Book of Isaiah. “They’re fairly benign. Clearly not gang tattoos,” Toczylowski told Mother Jones. “In my 15 years of representing people in removal proceedings in the United States, this is the most shocking thing that I’ve ever seen happen to one of our clients,” she told the Guardian.

 

This was entirely predictable: the termination of temporary authorizations for persons to reside in the U.S.

DHS terminated effective April 24 the humanitarian parole of many Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.  (Here is the formal decision, here is a new article.) The so-called CHNV program has given refuge to an estimated 532,000 persons.  The administration appears to be counting on self-deportation.

Three of the four countries are subject to U.S. sanctions and one, Venezuela, is being accused of launching a hostile incursion in to the U.S. Basically none of the affected persons can be labelled as criminals — thus el Salvador’s prisons are not a viable way for the administration to get rid of them.

Many will apply for asylum, an action the Administration may have no legal power to deny. A memorandum issued in February seeks to block this avenue. There will be a legal battle which would hold off the effective date until resolution – which could go to the Supreme Court.

These persons had they not been brought in through humanitarian parole would have crossed the Mexican border and applied for asylum.  All of them at this time have U.S. based sponsors. There is a 1.7 million case backlog of asylum cases in immigration court.

Three Republican congressmen from Miami Dade County in the first week of the new administration issued a statement which asks that these persons be protected.

 

 

The Trump Administration is enamored by detention and deportation because Trump can act like a dictator, ignoring the spirit and law of due process, imposing humiliation on persons. Detention and deportation are the Administration’s signature acts.  Here is a summary of story of Jasmine Mooney, published in the Guadian on March 19.

Jasmine Mooney, a Canadian citizen, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for two weeks despite having a valid work visa. Without explanation or legal recourse, she was treated as if she were a criminal, stripped of her belongings, and subjected to harsh detention conditions. She was transferred between detention centers, shackled, and placed in freezing, overcrowded cells with no access to legal assistance. Her ordeal revealed the systemic mistreatment of detainees, many of whom had no criminal records but were held in indefinite bureaucratic limbo.

Arbitrary Detention Without Explanation

Mooney was initially at an immigration office discussing her visa status when she was suddenly told to put her hands against the wall, frisked like a criminal, and detained. She was given no reason, no chance to call a lawyer, and no timeline for how long she would be held. Every time she asked for information, the response was a vague “I don’t know.”

Inhumane Conditions in Freezing Cells

For the first two days, she was locked in a tiny, freezing cement cell with bright fluorescent lights that never turned off. She and five other women were given only a thin aluminum sheet as a “blanket,” and there was no way to know the time. She distrusted the food, so she fasted, unsure of when she would be released.

Shackling and Forced Transfers Like Criminals

When Mooney and other detainees were transferred between facilities, they were shackled in chains—hands bound to their waists, feet restrained, making movement difficult. They endured a 24-hour, sleepless, grueling transport, crammed into a bus with men and women packed together. No one was told where they were going.

Degrading Medical and Hygiene Practices

Upon arriving at the San Luis Regional Detention Center, all female detainees were forced to undergo pregnancy tests while squatting over a communal toilet in a filthy cell, holding cups of urine as a nurse dropped tests into them. They were given one Styrofoam cup for water, one plastic spoon to reuse for every meal, and hand towels instead of real towels for showers. The lights were left on 24/7, ensuring sleep deprivation.

Timothy Snyder, a Yale Professor (here and here) wrote a Substack posting titled “deportation action as regime change.”   Executive action to bar entry into the country and to deport persons has a specially resonant role for aspiring autocrats in a democratic society.  I will explain.

Immigration laws, extremely complicated and hard for an outsider to penetrate, can include provisions that give the head of state extraordinary discretion to respond to national security emergencies for which the head of state has exclusive powers to declare. In the past ten days, Trump as invoked so such provisions: (1) the Alien Enemies Act (with regards to Tren de Aragua), and  (2)Section 237(a)(4)(C)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (with regard to Mahmoud Kahlil). He has also invoked (3) the Alien Registration Act (this has not burst into flames as yet).

There are several features of the first two that are attractive to the Trump Administration. First, they brush up against constitutional rights to due process – Trump is using these actions to create a constitutional confrontation that he has been seeking. These are in effect test cases for a broader assault on the judiciary seen (correctly) as protecting these rights.  Contempt of court is a deliberate feature of his challenge.

Second, deportation is in Snyder’s words great theater. “This [Tren de Aragua] deportation was planned as a political spectacle. The deportees were carefully chosen, as was the language used to describe them. The messaging was obviously coordinated in advance. And the entire humiliating procedure was carried out before cameras that were already in place. The videos that are being distributed are not some assemblage of footage caught haphazardly by cell phones. They are the result of fixed cameras, set in place in advance, with camera operators awaiting the action. The result is propaganda film worthy of the 1930s…”

The Tren de Aragua case is a very mild version of the Reichstag fire.

Third, as Presidents Obama and Biden practiced during their tenure, executive action on immigration is an especially accessible means for a president to arrogate to themselves Congressional functions.  

In summary, in these two actions in recent days, Trump has dramatically thrown down the gauntlet to the judicial independence and has further neutered Congress’ role in immigration.  Much easier to do this with immigration than with, for example, climate policy or national defence.

Response to the ICE in Colorado arrest on March 17 of Jeanette Vizguerra, a well known advocate for immigrants, unauthorized, in the U.S. for over 20 years — within 24 hours the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition issued a statement signed by 198 parties, including some immigrant advocates outside the state.

For the story, go to the Colorado Sun here.

San Diego Catholic Charities Mobilizing Resistance to ICE Arrests

Presentation by Appaswamy Vino Pajanor, Chief Executive Officer, Catholic Charities of San Diego, Center for Migration Studies, March 13 2025 (edited transcript).

Introduction Catholic Charities of San Diego, part of the larger Caritas network, is dedicated to humanitarian aid and social justice. Rooted in Christian teachings, the organization assists individuals regardless of their faith or background. In response to increasing immigration enforcement, Catholic Charities has taken proactive measures to support and protect migrant communities.

Background and Context

• Catholic Charities in San Diego operates within the Diocese of San Diego, covering both San Diego and Imperial counties.
• The organization responds to humanitarian needs, whether disasters, hunger, or displacement.
• In 2021, California approached Catholic Charities to assist migrants released by Border Patrol and ICE, leading to the development of large-scale relief efforts.

Formation of the Immigration Task Force

• In December 2024, Cardinal McElroy established an Immigration Task Force to guide the diocese’s response to increasing immigration challenges.
• The goals of the task force include:
  • Showing solidarity with immigrant communities.
  • Producing and distributing resources to inform and support immigrants.
  • Educating parishioners and the broader community on Catholic social teachings regarding immigration.

Strategic Response to ICE Enforcement

1. Real-Time Information Access
   • The organization created two websites: org (English) and plantheemergency.org (Spanish) to provide up-to-date information.
   • A QR code system was developed for quick access to legal rights and emergency contacts.
   • Over 100,000 resource cards were printed and distributed across parishes.
2. Education and Training for Religious Leaders
   • Workshops were organized to educate parish leaders, business managers, and school principals on legal rights and best practices.
   • Training sessions included how to handle ICE subpoenas, legal search parameters, and constitutional protections.
3. Community Outreach and Know-Your-Rights Workshops
   • Virtual and in-person “Know Your Rights” workshops were launched to educate both documented and undocumented individuals.
   • Sessions were held in safe environments such as church sanctuaries and post-mass gatherings to foster trust and comfort.
   • These initiatives reinforce the belief that churches are spaces of refuge and dignity.
4. Visible Solidarity and Support
   • Following Pope Francis’ emphasis on visible accompaniment, Catholic Charities leaders actively engage with affected communities.
   • The organization fosters reassurance that no one is alone in facing these challenges.
   • Personal testimonies highlight the ongoing risks, even for documented individuals, reinforcing the importance of the advocacy work.

Conclusion Catholic Charities of San Diego remains committed to supporting vulnerable populations amid shifting immigration policies. Through strategic planning, real-time resource distribution, community education, and advocacy, the organization stands firm in its mission to uphold human dignity, justice, and compassion.

 

Veronica Cardenas wrote in the Guardian: “[As] I saw firsthand in my 13 years as an assistant chief counsel for ICE the US immigration system was not designed to grant due process or ensure fairness; instead, it was built to prioritize deportation as a fallback when criminal prosecutions weren’t politically desirable or feasible.”

On March 13 Dr. Rasha Alawieh, who works at Brown Medicine and Rhode Island Hospital and held a H-1B visa, was barred at Boston Logan Airport from re-entering the United States. Alawieh is a citizen of Lebanon, to where she had flown from Boston a few weeks before to visit family.

The Boston Globe has covered the case and the following come largely from it.

According to the Globe, Judge Leo T. Sorokin issued an order on March 14 saying Alawieh should not be moved outside of Massachusetts without 48 hours notice. But he said that message apparently did not reach immigration officials in time, and a plane carrying Alawieh left for Paris.

Clare Saunders, one of Alaweih’s attorneys, said she went to Logan and tried repeatedly to attract the attention of federal officers. From her account, the officers pointedly refused to acknowledge her presence – much in line with Veronica Cardenas’ observation.

Today, March 17, US Customs and Border Protection told the judge that it has found on her phone photos of Hezbollah fighters and Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of Hezbollah who was killed on Sept 27,2024 by an Isreali air strike and whose funeral she attended. Per the Globe, according to ICE,  “I have a lot of WhatsApp groups with families and friends who send them,” she replied. “I am a Shia Muslim, and he is a religious figure. He has a lot of teachings, and he is highly regarded in the Shia community. He the head of Hezbollah.” The officer asked if she knew that Hezbollah had been designated as a terrorist organization. “Yes,” she said. “I’m not much into politics. But yes.”

Boston law firm Arnold and Porter, who had initially signed on to represent Alawieh, told Judge Sorokin that they wish to remove themselves from the case.

The White House today (March 15) invoked the Alien Enemies Act, which permits the government to detain and deport persons who are participating in an invasion. The White House said that members of Tren de Aragua( TdA) are part of an Venezuelan-backed invasion: “I find and declare that TdA is perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States. TdA is undertaking hostile actions and conducting irregular warfare against the territory of the United States both directly and at the direction, clandestine or otherwise, of the Maduro regime in Venezuela.”

To win in court, the administration needs to show that members of Tren de Aragua are agents of the government of Venezuela, that Venezuela is waging war against the United States, and that the persons to be deported are members of Tren de Aragua. The ACLU is leading the court challenge to the order.

The order does not affect citizens or lawful permanent residents – the latter exclusion is interesting because in the Mahmoud Kahlil case, the Kahlil, is a lawful permanent resident. The internment of Japanese in World War 2, two thirds of whom were American citizens, was done using Executive Order 9066 (1942) and not the Alien Enemies Act, because the latter did not apply to citizens.

Impacted at this time are the some 300 Tren de Aragua members who have been arrested and are scheduled to be flown and put into prison in El Salvador, for which the United States will reportedly pay El Salvador $6 million for one year of detention. Apparently another 214 persons have been arrested.

The Alien Enemies Act is one of four Alien and Sedition Acts enacted in 1798 in response to threats of war and concerns about enemy sympathizers. It applies only when there is a declared war or de facto incursion of a foreign power.

Among its provisions is the following: “all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being males of the age of fourteen years and upwards, who shall be within the United States and not actually naturalized, shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as alien enemies.” The Supreme Court in The Supreme Court in Ludecke v. Watkins (1948) established the power to deport without court review.

For text and background of all Aliens and Sedition Acts, go here.