Prayer Vigil for Comprehensive Immigration Reform Brings Hundreds Together

It was a dark, stormy night, but that didn’t stop more than 650 people from as far away as Palo Alto and Gilroy from gathering to pray together for just and humane comprehensive immigration reform last Friday night at St. Julie Billiart Catholic Church.

 Community members gave powerful testimony about how the current, broken immigration system is affecting them.  Nancy, a 14 year old US citizen from Gilroy, wakes up in fear every day that when she gets home from school one of her undocumented parents will have been detained and deported.
 
 Bishop Patrick McGrath from the Catholic Diocese of San Jose addressed the large group, saying, “As people of faith, we must be ready to walk hand in hand with one another – immigrant and non-immigrant – and build upon the advances of the Civil Rights Era and continue the vision of equality and peace for all people.”

Representatives from 27 congregations presented baskets of more than 12,000 postcards addressed to Congressional representatives in support of comprehensive immigration reform.  A delegation from PACT will take these postcards to hand-deliver them to Members of Congress in Washington, DC, as part of a national event on March 21.
 
This PACT event, organized with the Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform and the Diocese of San Jose, was one of dozens held in February across the nation by the PICO National Network and our allies for comprehensive immigration reform.

View the "I Live in Fear" video.

 
Thank you for your support,
PACT's Immigration Organizing Committee