Washington, D.C., is a long way from our nation’s southern borders, but it has become more of a “border town” recently as thousands of immigrants have come to our area and local agencies try their best to respond.
More than 7,000 people have arrived in our city over the last four months on buses from Texas, Arizona and other places. We don’t have the same experience as true border towns in Texas and Arizona, but immigration has become an even more important and urgent issue for our area.
We at Catholic Charities have provided assistance as best we can, and I wanted to share a little more today about how we continue to try to make a difference.
I wrote in May about how our employees met the first buses that came to town, helping dozens of people try to find their way. I also wrote about how there was no lead agency at that point to coordinate the response, and I was concerned whether Catholic Charities would have the bandwidth to keep supporting buses full of people coming to our area.
A short time later, an international nonprofit called SAMU First Response stepped up to become the lead agency, and we partnered with them until very recently. Unfortunately, it became too difficult financially and finding enough staff to maintain our level of assistance.
We are currently working with Catholic Charities USA and meeting with other local Catholic Charities’ agencies in New York and Texas with the goal of improving communication among sister agencies and trying to find ways to make the arrival process better for both the immigrants and the agencies serving them.
We have also been approached by the federal government about possibly serving as a coordinator for our area. It would be a big challenge, but we will continue that conversation to clarify desired outcomes and find funding for services we provide.
I also received a call from the D.C. government in late July asking if we could help with 25 Venezuelan families. The government was able to provide housing for the families in a local hotel, but there are no case workers available to assist them in navigating their other needs. We are trying to accommodate this request, as this is who we are and what we do, but the challenge is great as our staff is already overwhelmed.
Catholic Charities USA and Catholic Charities DC have been asking for an increased response from the federal government and local governments since April, but it’s clear that they (except for Montgomery County) have been looking to nonprofits to bear the burden of protecting the newcomers. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser recently had her request for help from the D.C. National Guard turned down by the Defense Department, and she is trying again with a more specific request.
We continue to do all that we can while trying to find ways to do more. No matter what your politics are about immigration or a wall, our perspective at Catholic Charities is that we say “yes” to all who come our way, including immigrants in our archdiocese who need assistance.
This is not only loving our neighbor; it has also been God’s command for thousands of years. “You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself; for you, too, were once aliens in the land of Egypt.” (Leviticus 19:34)
We know we are not the final solution to this growing concern, but we can be part of the solution. You should be proud of the Catholic Church and Catholic Charities as we continue to say yes in your name to our brothers and sisters who deserve the help that we can provide.
All of this would not be possible without the leadership of our Catholic Charities’ Newcomer Network and members of our staff response team. A few of the arrivals are now enrolled in our Navigator Program, where they are being connected with services. Our staff has been beyond spectacular and have shown me, once again, that we don’t depend upon money and government contracts alone. Our gift is passion, commitment, expertise and and service to those in need. I couldn’t be more proud of all involved and more grateful to those who support us financially.
Please pray for the immigrants being bused to our area. They come here oftentimes with only the clothes on their backs. Please also pray for Catholic Charities and other organizations as we do our very best to “welcome the stranger” with food, clothing, shelter and everything they need to become thriving members of our community.
In the first weekend of August, the second reading at Mass was from the Letter to the Hebrews. We hear of Abraham leaving his homeland, “not knowing where he was to go.” He was “looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God.” (Hebrews 11:10). May we help build our own city of God by welcoming the sojourners coming our way.
(Msgr. John Enzler, the president and CEO of Catholic Charities of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, writes the “Faith in Action” column for the archdiocese’s Catholic Standard and Spanish-language El Pregonero newspapers and websites.)
