Inside the Immigration Crisis

By Joseph Wakelee-Lynch

When the federal government launched immigration raids in Los Angeles, many residents avoided shopping, going to work, and even attending church. Instead, they stayed indoors for fear of arrest and deportation. We talk with three experts who are working in communities that have been targeted.

Kevin Sarabia Portrait
Inside the Immigration Crisis

Kevin Sarabia on Immigration Raids

Immigration raids hit Los Angeles this summer, and they’ve been disrupting everyday life for the city’s migrants, with many not going to work and even avoiding church. Kevin Sarabia, with the LMU Loyola Law School Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic, discusses some of the lasting impacts of the raids.

Inside the Immigration Crisis

Fernando Saldivar, S.J. on the Church and Immigration

The Catholic Church’s stance on immigration and immigrants is putting the church at odds with the policies of the Trump administration. Fernando Saldivar, S.J., who works on human rights at the LMU Loyola Law School International Human Rights Center, talks about the church’s immigration position, human rights, and current U.S. immigration policies.

In recent months, federal troops have been sent to patrol parts of major American cities — Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Portland. As a result, America’s immigration crisis, previously focused on the nation’s southern border, has been relocated to the heartland, but, so far, only to cities whose citizens have elected Democratic Party leaders.

Mass arrests, detainments, and deportations have dramatically altered daily life, with families avoiding day-to-day routines from going to work, to shopping for food and attending church on Sundays.

In our special podcast series on immigration, we cover the evolving range of issues related to the immigration crisis in America. Drawing on the expertise of lawyers, activists, and theologians in the LMU community, we examine questions from the day-to-day impact on communities and families in L.A.’s neighborhoods to changes in U.S. refugee and asylum policies faced by people seeking safety from violence in their home countries and the Catholic church’s long tradition Catholic Social Teaching that anchors its stand on migration.