Fear and loathing in Los Angeles
Fr Chris Ponnet takes part in a “Coalition of Faithful Resistance”prayer and protest vigil
Michael Tangeman
There has been a mixed response from the local Church to raids that have led to many Latino Catholics living in fear of being arrested and deported
LOS ANGELES – It is 6.45 on a Sunday morning in late August and I’ve arrived early for the first Mass at Our Lady of the Rosary. The church stands serenely in the early morning sunshine in this majority Hispanic suburb of Paramount, 15 minutes’ drive from downtown on the ubiquitous commuter freeways criss-crossing the working-class communities of south-east LA.
The scene seems a far cry from the running street battle in June just a few blocks away, with live-streamed images of police in riot gear facing off against neighbours protesting against arrests of undocumented immigrants in a series of raids by armed federal agents of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE.
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