A coalition of Wisconsin religious leaders is among those hoping the federal government will end its partial shutdown this week: they are asking Congress to once again take up immigration reform.
About a dozen religious leaders and pro-immigration activists gathered Monday in a Milwaukee park, and asked God to send a message to Congress and President Barack Obama.
Josephe Marie Flynn of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Elm Grove led the prayer: “Help them to resolve the current impasse in such a way that You prevail, that Your will prevails, and let us see this country again stand up for immigrants.”
Flynn said even though the federal government has been partly shut down, deportations of undocumented people continue, often breaking up families.
The Rev. Michelle Townsend de Lopez of Cross Lutheran Church in Milwaukee has two brothers-in law who are detained and may be deported. She said one of them may be sent back to Mexico, though he has asked for political asylum. “We never know when he's going to call, we're not allowed to visit, and I'm saying that this is the kind of ... very broken system we're all dealing with.”
The coalition of Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh leaders wants Congress to pass an immigration bill that includes a path to citizenship.
