DAI Parish ID Strategy Is In Full Swing, Protecting Families and Rebuilding Churches
Building on a groundbreaking accord between Dallas Area Interfaith (DAI) and the Police Departments of Dallas, Carrollton and Farmers Branch -- in which the police agreed to accept parish identification cards as alternative ID -- upwards of 800 parish ID cards have been issued since the campaign was launched four weeks ago. With some parishes requiring active membership from applicants for at least six months before issuing the card, the waiting list of submitted applications has, so far, exceeded 2,000 applicants and is expected to grow.
Read moreDallas Catholic Diocese, DAI Stand w/ Family in Deportation Case
When Fr. Daza of Nuestra Señora del Pilar Catholic Church heard that his parishioner, Adolfo Mejia, was in deportation proceedings, he immediately picked up the phone and called Dallas Area Interfaith.
"It's the children who suffer," said Fr. Daza.
Read moreValley Interfaith Fights for DACA, Sends 10,000 Cards to Congress
Wielding 10,000 signed postcards to Congressional Representatives and scriptural passages on the subject, Valley Interfaith leaders and Catholic Bishop Daniel E. Flores forcefully called on Congress to protect DREAMers as they decide the future of DACA.
"The Bible is clear," declared Msgr. Heriberto Diaz of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Brownsville. "We are to welcome the immigrant, as we were once immigrants in a foreign land."
Read morePreaching Citizenship, DAI Engages 1,200 New Citizen Recruits
In a major push to sign up new (and potential) voters, Dallas Area Interfaith leaders recruited over 1,200 US legal permanent residents, green card holders, to apply for US citizenship this year. Catholic priests and lay leaders took to the pulpit to spread the word that a key element of the Catholic faith is participation in public life, which includes voting.
The Dallas Morning News had this to say:
We’re impressed by the Dallas Area Interfaith’s proactive effort to help green card holders become U.S. citizens. The coalition of church-based groups exceeded its goal of getting 1,000 people in a year on the road to becoming citizens by prepping them for the citizenship test and helping them fill out forms. In this volatile environment for conversation about immigration, it helps to have a safe place for folks to go to get through this complicated process. With that final step, legal tax-paying residents gain the full rights of citizenship, including the right to vote. That’s true democracy at work.
Read moreReligious Join OTOC in Call for Extension of 'Temporary Protected Status'
In an effort to stand with immigrants, Nebraska Lutheran Bishop Brian Maas, Catholic Archdiocese Chancellor Rev. Tim McNeill, and College of St. Mary President Maryanne Stevens joined Omaha Together Organized Communities (OTOC) in a column calling on Congress for an 18-month extension of 'Temporary Protective Status (TPS).'
TPS allows immigrants and refugees like OTOC leader and 20-year resident Wilfredo Rivera (featured in photo above) to avoid deportation. This issue affects 400,000 immigrants nationally, not including their children.
Read moreFor Immigrants Without State ID, DAI Negotiates Dallas-Area Police Department Acceptance of Parish Identification Cards
For the first time in North Texas, immigrants without state ID will be allowed to use parish identification cards to identify themselves with Farmers Branch, Carrollton and Dallas Police Department officers. Dallas Area Interfaith leaders negotiated this ground breaking police department policy change in the aftermath of the passage of anti-immigrant State Senate Bill 4, in order to engender greater trust between police and immigrants.
Read moreTMO Continues Push to Protect Harvey Tenants from Eviction
Building on their previous month's achievement of making tenants' rights a front-and-center issue in post-Harvey recovery, The Metropolitan Organization of Houston (TMO) continues working with documented -- and undocumented -- immigrants to ensure their rights are protected.
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