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Currents News Update for Tuesday, 9/21/21

The Department of Homeland Security says its sending personnel to conduct oversight after disturbing pictures of Border Patrol on horseback emerged at the makeshift migrant camp in Del Rio, Texas.

The Supreme Court is set to take up the pro-life battle on Dec. 1 when it hears arguments in a Mississippi case — directly challenging the landmark abortion case, Roe v Wade.

President Biden is delivering his first address to the United Nations.

After 86 years together, a California couple is celebrating a major milestone! They’re the longest married couple in the U.S.

Church Leaders Respond to Border Crisis as Haitians Seek Asylum in Del Rio, Texas

By Jessica Easthope

Church leaders agree – they say asylum is a human right and the way the humanitarian crisis at the Del Rio border is being handled is wrong.

“This situation, this cry for help, for survival hits home and hits us all here,” said Monsignor Pierre-Andre Pierre, the head of the National Center of the Haitian Apostolate.

Church leaders in the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Archdiocese of San Antonio, where thousands of Haitian migrants have created a makeshift encampment, say they understand the issue is complicated and there’s no clear solution.

“The situation is pressing because there are too many, but these people have been leaving very difficult situations in their home countries and they have been moving toward the border for weeks and months, some even years,” said Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of the Archdiocese of San Antonio.

The advice they’re giving is now is the time to act according to faith.

“They’re in desperation and they have been following directions and they want to make it right coming into the U.S,” said Archbishop Garcia-Siller.

“This is a Christian, a Catholic duty to welcome the stranger and help a brother and sister in need,” Monsignor Pierre said.

The Haitian Apostolate is meeting this week to strategize on what it can do to help at the border as it joins forces with the Archdiocese of San Antonio. Through Catholic Charities the Archdiocese is building a migrant center in Del Rio – one of its functions will be to help migrants with legal services.

U.S. Reacts After Video of Border Patrol Agents Confronting Haitian Immigrants Goes Viral

By Emily Drooby

Viral videos of U.S. border patrol agents on horseback confronting Haitian immigrants have prompted outrage across the country and from the White House.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said it’s unacceptable.

“I don’t think anyone seeing that footage would think it was acceptable or appropriate,” she said.

The events occurred near a refugee encampment near Del Rio, Texas where thousands of Haitian migrants seeking asylum are waiting to be processed by the U.S. government.

Meanwhile, the Biden Administration is fighting to uphold Title 42, a public health order issued by the CDC at the beginning of the pandemic used to allow the government to deport undocumented migrants who have crossed the border quickly.

Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, said they are securing transportation for deportation.”

“We in DHS are securing additional transportation to accelerate the pace and increase the capacity of removal flights to Haiti and other destinations,” Alejandro said. “In the Western hemisphere, we are working to increase the capacity of return flights to Haiti and other destinations. We anticipate at least one to three flights per day.”

Many of the Haitians gathering at the border are believed to have been living in South America following the 2010 earthquake and have moved north to the U.S. border due to the coronavirus crisis. Their home country is still recovering from the latest earthquake and dealing with political unrest and increasing violence.

St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral Named to Historic Place Registry

By Jessica Easthope

The stone walls inside St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral are the originals. Compared to the rest of the ornate church they’re not much to look at, but they’re part of why it’s been nominated by Governor Kathy Hochul for the state and national registers of historic places.

“Because of the history of this building and the history of this community being an immigrant church originally the two things combined went into this 70-something page document that was submitted,” said Father Thomas Zain the archpriest of the cathedral.

The State Street church which was first built as an Episcopal church in the 1850s joins a list of 19 other buildings. It became an Orthodox church in 1920, growing with a Syrian and Lebanese immigrant community of faith.

Father Thomas Zain says the nomination opens up opportunities for grants that could help his renovation project to add an elevator, handicap bathrooms and an access ramp.

“One of our concerns was is it like landmark status because with that you need permission to change a lightbulb and we didn’t want that because we knew we’d be doing these repairs but she said no it was just an honor for the cathedral,” said Father Zain.

So much of the church’s history can be seen from the outside, but Father Zain hopes this new title draws people in.

“While we’re still waiting for a lot of our older people to come back we’ve gotten a lot of new parishioners so hopefully this is another vehicle to evangelize and for people to hear about the church that are searching for a spiritual home,” he said.

The church has already been approved for the state historic place registry and is waiting for approval on the national level. 

Currents News Update for Monday, 9/20/21

The U.S. has begun flying hundreds of Haitians back to their homeland in what could be the swiftest large-scale expulsion of migrants in decades.

Nuns at Felician University in New Jersey have teamed up with students at a nearby Catholic school to help collect supplies to send to the Caribbean country.

A Queens woman says her faith and her son are the reasons she’s alive today. When it flooded because of Hurricane Ida, her legally blind son pulled her out of their home through a window.

Your younger kids could soon be rolling up their sleeves for a COVID shot — Pfizer says its vaccine works well on children ages five to 11.

How This Blind Man Saved His Mother From Tropical Storm Ida

By Emily Drooby

As Tropical Storm Ida raged, Danette Rivera ran down the steps into the basement of her Woodside, Queens home with a pump. She was hoping to slow down the water so she shut the door, but quickly came to a terrifying realization.

Danette explained, “When the water got about to my chest, or almost shoulders, I tried to pull the door back open so I could get out, and it wouldn’t open. So, I could get out, and it wouldn’t open. It was completely jammed.”

She was stuck in her flooding basement. A small window was her only escape but it was way above her head and water was still pouring in.

“Then I was getting tired and exhausted so I kept giving up. And when I would release the window, I would drop back down and realize I was a foot and a half under water,” she said.

After almost an hour of trying to escape, she was running out of energy and air. She was praying for help and that’s when her son, Justin appeared through the howling storm – he had somehow heard her screams.

Danette said, “God touched my sons’ heart and brought him down to me in just the right knick of time.”

Justin, who couldn’t join us for this interview, is legally blind in both eyes. He was able to fight his way through the flooding, to the window, and pull her out just in time.

Danette said, “he saved my life.”

Danette’s basement is ruined. But she still has the three most important things; her faith, her son, and her life.