Ada Perlman, Contributing Photographer

On Sunday night, students and local community members filled the lecture hall at St. Thomas More, or STM, to hear a panel of faith leaders and local immigration advocates. The panel featured Sister Mary Ellen Burns LAW ’89 – founder of Apostle Immigrant Services in Fair Haven, Mohammad Daad Serweri– case manager and former participant at IRIS, Maggie Mitchell Salem – IRIS’ executive director and Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh – associate policy analyst for the Migration Policy Institute.

In the introduction to the panel, Assistant Chaplain Pauline Little emphasized that the panel was not about “political sides or partisanship” but rather to share stories about the impact of sudden changes in federal funding and immigration policy. She mentioned a letter that Pope Francis wrote to U.S. bishops, stating, “The Christian faithful and people of God are called upon to consider the legitimacy of norms and public policy in light of the dignity of the human person and his or her fundamental rights.” She also quoted a gospel, pointing to the importance of faith when discussing immigration policy. 

“In today’s gospel, we heard the sermon where Jesus speaks about those who are blessed alongside woeful warnings. So how does our Catholic faith call us to respond this time?” said Little. 

Burns, a nun and lawyer, explained that she sees the work that she does at Apostle Immigrant Services to be in response to her faith. She referred to the Catholic Social Teaching that is founded on the biblical principle of humans being made in the “image and likeness of God.”

“We, therefore, have an immense inherent dignity from God, and that that must be honored, whether it’s in a person who speaks differently or looks differently, whether it is a person yet to be born or a person on death row, whether it is a person who lacks cognitive abilities or whether it is a person who is poor, who is unemployed, we are all made in the image and likeness of God, and it is not a political statement to say that we must treat people as such,” said Burns, met with applause from the audience. 

Mitchell Salem described the devastating effects of IRIS’ funding getting cut. She called the “stop work” orders “appalling.” 

“It was like a guillotine, and we are going to do our best to survive. We’re thinking fast, working fast and trying to adapt,” said Mitchell Salem. 

She called on those who were able to donate funds to IRIS amidst their financial losses in addition to calling for comprehensive immigration reform. She also stressed the significance of immigrants’ contributions to the American workforce. She cited industries such as construction and agriculture which rely heavily on the labor of undocumented immigrants, calling these “essential services” for the U.S. 

“They’re getting jobs not because they’re taking it away from any American, but because the job needs to be done, and there’s no one to do it,” said Mitchell Salem. 

Serweri praised the Biden administration for its work in improving immigration policy.

“Gigantic progress was made during the previous administration, and they focused on domestic capacity,” said Serweri.

All of the panelists were asked to share how their faith informs their work. Burns mentioned studying the prophet Amos and Matthew 25 as being particularly relevant to her work. 

“When I came to you as a stranger, did you welcome me? Those are all things that keep me fired up with what I’m doing,” Burns stated quoting Matthew 25.

Putzel-Kavanaugh, who deals with a lot of data analysis in her job, said that for her faith is about hope. 

“If you work in immigration, you have to have hope. Even though I feel very comfortable in the data and being able to research something and find an answer, sometimes there’s a lot of unexplainable things or questions that arise. The idea of hope is very grounding in all of this,” said Putzel-Kavanaugh. 

St. Thomas More is located at 268 Park St.