A Catholic group rallied inside the US Capitol Building on Tuesday, showing their support for the idea of amnesty for ‘Dreamers’ – the undocumented immigrants brought to the US as minors. Bishop John Stowe from Kentucky’s Diocese of Lexington was present, telling the crowd that the group stood with the Dreamers and asked for God’s blessing for civil disobedience when it came to resisting laws that were unjust.
While the protest was in process, Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, made an appearance in the Capitol. The Republican Party, of which Ryan is a member and which holds the balance of power in both Congressional chambers, wants immigration policy reform in return for giving amnesty to Dreamers, but the Democrats have so far refused to agree to their terms.
The police arrested up to 40 demonstrators during the protest, including several religious women from the Sisters of Mercy. In an interview with Catholic News Service, Sister Elise Garcia said she would rather a nun be arrested than a Dreamer and was, like her other sisters and Catholic allies, willing to be arrested to show their solidarity with Dreamers.
The day before the protest, the columnist and Jesuit Thomas Reese wrote an article for Religious News Service, admitting that he planned to get arrested and citing the history of civil disobedience in the US. All those arrested were released by 4 pm on the day of the protest.