America’s ‘immigrants’ nun’ says many are afraid to even go to the supermarket

[Michie]

Sister Norma Pimentel is known as “the immigrants’ nun.” For over a decade, she has directed the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley (CCRGV) Humanitarian Respite Center, a humanitarian aid center located in McAllen, Texas, on the border with Mexico. From there, she has provided assistance to people who arrive in the United States seeking asylum.

According to Pimentel, the increase in arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to expel immigrants who lack legal status in the country has unleashed a climate of fear in communities.

‘Raids are taking place everywhere’​

“People are extremely afraid ... they know that nowhere is safe, they pick you up anywhere, and you can’t even go to the supermarket because raids are taking place everywhere,” the religious explained.

Last year, the center received a legal request from the Texas attorney general’s office to compel a CCRGV representative to sit for a deposition regarding its immigrant assistance efforts, although the case was subsequently dismissed by a judge.

Pimentel said the sense of widespread fear has also spread to other residents of the Rio Grande Valley. Many now think: “If I help him, maybe something will happen to me too,” she told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, shortly after participating in the Oct. 2 “Refugees and Migrants in Our Common Home” conference with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican.

Continued below.

America’s ‘immigrants’ nun’ says many are afraid to even go to the supermarket

As ICE arrests increase, Sister Norma Pimentel says a sense of widespread fear is spreading.

www.catholicnewsagency.com

 

[johnnypapa]

If they are 'immigrants', they shouldn't be afraid.

 

[caffeinated hermit]

( Posting In Fellowship)

I'm struggling, a bit, with what to think of all this. On one hand, I feel like people who have been peacefully under the radar for a decade or more should, perhaps, be given a pathway toward applying for a legal status. On the other hand, we don't want violent gang members, child abusers, and unvetted creeps roaming around.

If I snuck into a country illegally, yeah, I'd be living in fear of discovery. That kind of goes with the territory when you break the law and, technically, shouldn't be somewhere. I'm sensing a degree of tension between idealized notions of immigration and the reality on the ground. I've also heard Anglican clerics advocate for compassionate, no-limits help for illegal immigrants. I have yet to see anyone advocating for this welcome unvetted illegal individuals or families into their homes.

How do you guys feel about it as Catholics?

 

[Valletta]

( Posting In Fellowship)

I'm struggling, a bit, with what to think of all this. On one hand, I feel like people who have been peacefully under the radar for a decade or more should, perhaps, be given a pathway toward applying for a legal status. On the other hand, we don't want violent gang members, child abusers, and unvetted creeps roaming around.

If I snuck into a country illegally, yeah, I'd be living in fear of discovery. That kind of goes with the territory when you break the law and, technically, shouldn't be somewhere. I'm sensing a degree of tension between idealized notions of immigration and the reality on the ground. I've also heard Anglican clerics advocate for compassionate, no-limits help for illegal immigrants. I have yet to see anyone advocating for this welcome unvetted illegal individuals or families into their homes.

How do you guys feel about it as Catholics?

I have similar feelings. However, tragically, the Biden administration forced the issue by allowing 10 to 20 million people to enter the country during one administration. If people are willing to deport and apply legally I am all for letting in many many more as long as they love America and wish to assimilate into our culture.