Immigration Reform Activists To Seek Pope Francis' Support While Visiting The Vatican

The Orange County Register reported over the weekend that a group of over a dozen immigration reform activists and at least two children whose parents are undocumented immigrants in the United States will travel to the Vatican next week to seek the support of Pope Francis in their push for a halt to deportations and a reform of the nation’s immigration system. The paper writes that the Los Angeles archdiocese office is helping the group secure a spot in the pope’s general audience next Wednesday, one day before the pope is set to meet with President Obama.

The group says aside from asking for the pope’s blessings, it plans to deliver over 1,000 letters from children whose families could be subject to deportation. “I'm going to give him a card and I want him to hear my situation,” said 10-year-old Jersey Vargas, a fourth-grader from the San Fernando Valley. “We are not criminals. My parents came to this country for a better life. But my dad is in immigration detention and I'm afraid he will be deported. I am going to tell the pope I feel very sad.” Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez gave Vargas and others accompanying her on the trip his blessing toward the end of Sunday mass.

The effort comes as immigrant advocates redirect their efforts toward President Obama, whom they urge to bring a temporary halt to deportations in the face of House Republicans’ refusal to consider legislation which would extend legal status to the nation’s estimated 11.7 million undocumented immigrants. Last Thursday, after one of the most influential Latino groups criticized Obama’s deportation policy, the White House announced that the Department of Homeland Security would review immigration-enforcement policies “to see how it can conduct enforcement more humanely”.