Parishioners and Friends of St. Mary of the Assumption Demand a Meeting with the Archdiocese

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, December 31, 2012 CONTACTS: Barbara Burke (English) (908) 578-2877 Felix4446@aol.com Maritsa Jaramillo (Spanish) (848) 203-4310 malicha16@hotmail.com ***PRESS RELEASE*** Parishioners and Friends of St. Mary of the Assumption Protesting Decision by the Archbishop Holding Press Conference to Demand a Meeting for the Archdiocese to Explain Reasons for Removal of All of the Priests at St. Mary’s Newark, NJ- Beginning at 11 am on Wednesday January 2nd, people from Elizabeth and the surrounding communities will gather to show their love for the priests of St. Mary’s and their disapproval of the abrupt decision of the Archbishop John J. Myers right before Christmas to remove all of the priests. “It is our belief that such a drastic event warrants a thorough explanation and dialogue, neither of which has happened,” said Barbara Burke, a spokeswoman for the parish, in a letter addressed to the Archbishop. The parishioners are also asking for assurances “that our church, school and ministries are retained.” Who: Members and friends of the parish of St. Mary of the Assumption in Elizabeth including community & faith leaders, and community members What: Press conference Where: in front of the Archdiocesan Center- 171 Clifton Ave., Newark, NJ When: 11:00 AM Members of the parish will be making statements about the removal of all of their priests by Archbishop Myers. Other members of the community will be making statements about how important the work of the parish of St. Mary’s is to the City of Elizabeth and the surrounding communities. The parishioners and friends began organizing as soon as they heard the news that all of their priests were told to leave. The Facebook page “We Stand with Fr. Jack Martin & the Priests & Parishioners of St. Mary’s” has gained over 400 members in just over 2 days. A story about the removal of all of the priests , which quoted parishioners, was published in the Star Ledger on Christmas Day. ### About St. Mary of the Assumption The parish began serving Irish immigrants working on the railroads and local factories in 1845. Parishioners built their present church in 1858, making it the oldest Roman Catholic church in Union County. Today it continues to serve the people who work in the factories and the nearby port some descendants of the Irish immigrants, but many who arrived in newer waves of immigrants including Central and South America and the Philippines. It has grown to include a high school and a convent. Among its many ministries, its parish family cares for the impoverished and the homeless providing shelter and distributing food and other necessities through its food pantry.

What do You Think This is - A Charitable Institution? Priests Dedicated to Helping Poor & Marginalized Dismissed Before Christmas

When Fr. Jack Martin asked Msgr. Harrington, the pastor at St. Mary of the Assumption in Elizabeth, if he would allow an asylum seeker and torture survivor from Darfur to live in the vacant third floor of the rectory, Monsignor, according to the story replied “What do you think this is – a charitable institution?” before winking and giving his approval. So it was that another ministry at the parish was born and so it has been for many years at St. Mary’s that whenever anyone was in trouble and needed help, Fr. Jack was on a short list to call. This Sunday at all the masses the parishioners of St. Mary’s were shocked to learn that Fr. Jack, Msgr. Harrington and all the priests of St. Mary’s were being dismissed by Archbishop Myers and they would be evicted from the rectory shortly after Christmas. No reason was given for this action, the priests asked for a meeting with the Archbishop, but he refused. Fr. Jack and Msgr. Harrington have already retired and will not be reassigned. Msgr. is confined to a wheelchair and St. Mary’s is fully handicapped accessible, so he asked if he could continue to live at St. Mary’s. His request was denied. We don’t know yet what will happen to the other two priests who are assigned to St. Mary’s. All of the priests at St. Mary’s are beloved not only for their work on behalf of the poor and the marginalized, but also for their respect and understanding of the culture and traditions of the diverse community of worshipers at St. Mary’s. This abrupt and drastic action by the Archdiocese jeopardizes the many ministries that serve immigrants, the poor, the homeless, the elderly, etc. This will have a tremendously negative impact on the local community. In the short term, the asylum seekers who have been living in on the 3rd floor of the rectory have already been told to leave and we expect that IRATE & First Friends whose offices have been at St. Mary's convent will be told to do the same very soon. This is a terrible injustice and we cannot remain silent. For more information on this story please contact Maritsa Jaramillo malicha16@hotmail.com is 848-203-4310. She is a parishioner at St. Mary's and is working on coordinating the parishioners’ response.

The Human Stories Behind the Immigration Detention Contract in Essex County

Since Essex County signed its contract with ICE to expand immigration detention to 1250 people this past fall, Essex County has been in the news. Not just for the shady back doors deals and political contributions from the private for-profit company that received the immigration detention subcontract but also for the suffering that this contract is causing to local residents and their families.

In October, there was the story of Neida Lavayen whose fiance was taken into custody one week before their wedding and held at Delaney Hall until he was deported to Ecuador.

In November, there was the story of Michell and Yasser Valle who migrated to the US legally with their mother when they were in kindergarten and first grade, and although they were eligible for relief under ICE's new policy of prosecutorial discrection it looked as if they would be spending Thanksgiving in Delaney Hall.


In December, there was the story of Atanas Entchev who was invited to the US over 20 years ago as a visiting scholar and brought his 2 year old son, Enislav with him. Though both Atanas and Enislave were also eligible for relief under the policy of prosecutorial discretion they were taken into custody and held in Delaney Hall for 65 days.

Just before Christmas we learned of the story of Jose Pereira, the father of 2 US citizen children and the spouse of a US citizen who was incarcerated in the Essex County Jail awaiting deportation.

Just before New Year's the story of Charley Chehoud appeared in the press. Charley is currently being held in solitary confinement in the Essex County Jail despite entering the US legally 30 years ago and recently cooperating with police to solve several crimes including a murder.

These are just the stories that made it into the mainstream media. Each and every one of the people being held in immigration detention has his or her own story. Immigrants in detention include the parents and spouses of US citizens, asylum seekers and torture survivors. They include students, business owners, and community leaders. They include long time residents, legal permanent residents, and sometimes even US citizens who are wrongfully imprisoned.

Essex County is netting less than $20 per detainee per day. It is using this revenue as to justify participating in an inhumane system. The County refuses to recognize the immorality of incarcerating people for profit.

If you can, please join us on Wednesday February 22nd in our latest protest against the inhumane immigration detention system and the expansion in Essex County and NJ. We will be starting in Jersey City with a 12 with a mile walk to the Elizabeth Detention Center that includes stops at the Essex County Jail, the ICE Field Office and several houses of worship.

We will close the day with a vigil and prayer service at the Elizabeth Detention Center at 6 pm

Whether or not you can attend, please do not forget to sign the petition to tell the Essex County Freeholders to get out of the business of immigration detention because profiting from other people's misery is not a business that Essex County should be in.

Will your name be among those demanding an end to immigration detention for profit?

Tomorrow night hundreds of concerned New Jersey residents are expected to participate in an "Occupy the Freeholders" action. At the Essex County Freeholders regularly scheduled meeting we will deliver a petition started on Change.org that has garnered more that 3,000 signatures on-line and over 1000 in hard copy in opposition to an expanded contract with a local jail that houses immigrant detainees for profit.

Will your name be among those who demand an end to the incarceration of immigrants for profit?

If you haven't already, please sign this petition to revoke the ICE contract in Essex County

And then join us in Newark...

December 7th, 2011
Rally at 4pm at Military Park
& Marching to 456 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Room 506
For 7:30 pm Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholder Meeting.


The Essex County Freeholders need to stop selling out to the 1%
Immigrants are not commodities.
Immigrants are the 99%!

Stop Understanding, Start Feeling

As I sat down to write this blog post, about our upcoming protest on December 7th in Newark over the for-profit immigration detention contract, I was tempted to lead with statistics about the percentage of foreign born residents in Essex County. Then I remembered a quote from a book on racial justice by Father Bryan Massingale. "We act justly not because we are intellectually convinced, but because we are passionately moved. Compassion moves the will to justice."

As a movement and as individual activists, there is a tendency toward providing facts, data and statistics that support just immigration policy. There is the belief that if only we could effectively combat the tremendous body of misinformation we would prevail. The problem is that one of the primary tactics of the campaign against immigration reform is an attempt to dehumanize an entire group of people.

However, it becomes obvious, that what is fueling the anti-immigrant movement is anything but rational. The statistics are simply a justification for a deep seated fear of people who are in some way different. It is a deep seated fear that these new people will upset the social order.

I am often asked why I am an advocate for immigration reform. After all, being an advocate for social change of any kind does not win a person any popularity contests, particularly not in New Jersey’s suburbs. I can only describe it as a conversion after encounters with people who were suffering under the injustice of our immigration system. These were moments where, as Catholic and a Christian, I recognized the face of Jesus in the suffering of the people before me and I felt their pain in a deep and profound way. At these times I was able to see that it was merely by luck of my birth and circumstances that I was spared their suffering.

Perhaps that is why I am transfixed by this video. I do not understand the words that Frank uses to describe the plight of immigrants in detention or the injustice of the system that imprisons them for-profit… I feel them.



We need to stop pinning our hopes for change to an intellectual exercise where we ascribe economic value to the lives of people who are immigrants. By doing so, we only contribute to their dehumanization. We need to talk about immigrants as people with innate value as human beings. We need to elevate their lives and their stories, flawed and imperfect though they may be.

Until we have the courage to stridently proclaim, not that some are deserving because they can contribute, but that all are entitled to the basic necessities of life because they are human, we will not prevail.

I hope you will watch Frank’s video as I have, over and over, and share it with your friends. I believe with all my heart and I feel in my soul that the very passion and the power of the emotion that he expresses is our path forward as a movement.

We must stop trying to understand and open our hearts. We must start feeling the pain of our brothers and sisters who are immigrants. Our compassion for their suffering is what will motivate us to act in solidarity for justice.

If you can, please join us in Newark on December 7th, beginning at 4:00 pm in Military Park and later at 7:00 pm at the Essex County Freeholders meeting. If not please sign the petition to revoke the ICE contract in Newark and start putting people before profit.

Stop Incarcerating People for Profit - Occupy the Essex County Freeholders

Immigrants are being incarcerated for profit in Essex County thanks to the help of the Essex County Executive and the Board of Chosen Freeholders who have decided to sell the liberty of 1250 people to ICE for $108/person/day.

Join us December 7 beginning at 4:00 pm with a rally & press conference in Military Park and then march with us to the Hall of Records to Occupy the Freeholders at their meeting at 7:00 pm. We will be presenting them with thousands of signatures on a petition to revoke the ICE contract and tell them to STOP INCARCERATING PEOPLE FOR PROFIT!

For years, Essex County has been partnering with the private for-profit company Community Education Centers (CEC) to negotiate a contract with ICE to detain 1250 people in the Essex County Jail and the neighboring privately run Delaney Hall. The agreement between ICE & Essex County was signed and approved earlier this fall.

After Essex County secretly negotiated with ICE, making representations to ICE that CEC would be the subcontractor, Essex County put the sub-contract up for public bid. Surprise, surprise CEC was the only bidder in two separate rounds of RFP's.

It just so happens that CEC has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the campaigns of Essex County politicians.

It just so happens that one of CEC's primary lobbyists was Chris Christie.

It just sot happens that Bill Palatucci, Chris Christie's close friend and political confidant, is currently a Sr. VP for CEC.

As we know, the system is rigged to line the pockets of corporate interests while working class people suffer. This is just one more example.

Wall Street Execs destroy the economy & get a bailout. Immigrants work hard & end up in jail. Immigrants are the 99%.

Wells Fargo - Dump the Prison Stock! Invest in Humanity

"We’re responsible for being leaders to promote the long-term economic prosperity and quality of life for everyone in our communities. If they prosper, so do we."

That's what Wells Fargo says about its "goal for social responsibility" but their investments say otherwise.

Wells Fargo has a major presence in New Jersey's urban centers and neighborhoods. It's marketing strategy includes a significant outreach to minorities and immigrants. However, it is one of the largest investors in private prisons. Their investments include GEO Group which owns Delaney Hall and Corrections Corp of America (CCA) which owns and operates the Elizabeth Detention Center.

Wells Fargo and its investors are making billions while people suffer as these for-profit prison operators squeeze every last dime out of the facilities they run. This means smaller food portions, denial of access to medical care, inadequately and poorly trained guards, limited access to personal hygiene items, more prisoners to a cell, etc.

These conditions exist in a system with limited oversight which is further shrouded by corporate secrecy. This focus on profit over human rights creates an environment where abuse is overlooked, tolerated and, in the most egregious cases, justified.

GEO Group is a multi-national corporation with a long record of riots, verbal, physical and sexual abuse at the facilities that it runs. It has paid tens of millions of dollars resulting from lawsuits including suits alleging wrongful death.

CCA also has a highly blemished record. The Elizabeth Detention Center gained national notoriety when the NY Times published a series of articles about the under-reported deaths of people in immigration detention. The series included several stories about Boubacar Bah a Guinean tailor who died from severe head trauma after being denied medical treatment by CCA staff for 13 hours.

Meanwhile CCA & GEO are using their profits from lucrative government contracts to lobby through groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) for stricter criminal sentencing guidelines and harsher immigration enforcement.

It is time for Wells Fargo to be true to its message. They need to dump the prison stock and invest in humanity. That is exactly what the National Prison Industry Divestment Campaign is trying to do. Enlace is leading a national grassroots effort to force Wells Fargo to stop investing in the for-profit prison industry. The campaign is tailored to each community, in San Franciso they are holding rallies outside of Wells Fargo's national headquarters, in Colorado individuals are signing pledges to remove their funds from Wells Fargo branches.

There is some discussion about bringing the national campaign to NJ. How will it look here? Organizers are not quite sure yet, but stay tuned because details are sure to follow.

For more information about the National Prison Industry Divestment Campaign click here. or contact Enlace info@enlaceintl.org or 213-284-3802.