NEWARK, NJ — Dozens of Catholic residents of New Jersey and civil rights advocates – including Cardinal Joseph Tobin – gathered in Newark on Wednesday to protest the detention of immigrant children and families.
As part of the rally, a group of activists laid down in the street across from the federal building on Broad Street, forming a human cross and blocking traffic as other protesters knelt down beside them in prayer. (See below videos)
Tobin – a potential successor to the pope who has been a vocal supporter of immigrant rights – decried recent ICE raids and the separation of children from their parents at the southern border, calling them “violations of human dignity that are contrary to all religious teachings.”
Newark police eventually took six people into custody but didn’t handcuff them, NorthJersey.com reported.
The protesters were issued disorderly persons summonses, a Newark police spokesperson told Patch.
The rally began around 10 a.m. at St. Mary’s/Newark Abbey Church, where dozens of people gathered for a morning service. The congregation then marched to the ICE office at 970 Broad Street, which oversees the deportation of thousands of detained immigrants every year.
According to nonprofit Faith in Action, which helped to spearhead Wednesday’s rally, the protest and “nonviolent civil disobedience” were part of an ongoing campaign to end to the detention of children and families in the United States, which is “contrary to Gospel values as written in Matthew chapter 25 where we are called to welcome the stranger, feed the hungry and care for the sick.”
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The action drew inspiration from a similar launch event in July at the Russell Rotunda in Washington, D.C., where 70 Catholic leaders and supporters were arrested.
“Newark was chosen as the site of this second action because of regional energy flowing out of the D.C. event and New Jersey Catholics having advocated for an end to immigration detention for more than 20 years,” Faith in Action organizers stated.
National organizers included Sisters of Mercy of the Americas; Leadership Conference of Women Religious; Faith in Action; Faith in Public Life; Franciscan Action Network; Pax Christi USA; Conference of Major Superiors of Men; Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach; Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns; Ignatian Solidarity Network; Sisters of the Good Shepherd National Advocacy Center, Stuart Center: Society of the Sacred Heart, and NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice.
Local organizers included Action 21, Cosecha, Faith in NJ, First Friends NJ/NY, Maryknoll Affiliates of the NE, Haiti Solidarity Network of the Northeast, Pax Christi NJ, St. Aedan Migrant Center, and The Center for Undocumented Students.
Another faith-based immigration protest recently took place in nearby Elizabeth, when 36 arrestees – all Jewish members of Never Again Action – blocked entrances at the Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility, which houses federal detainees for ICE.
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