Immigration raid commemorated

Intermountain Catholic

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About two dozen people gathered for the vigil in front of the Cathedral of the Madeleine Dec. 8, lighting candles and singing ?We Shall Overcome' to bring attention to the fact that no changes have come to federal immigration legislation since the raids five years ago. IC photo/Marie Mischel

By Marie Mischel and Laura Vallejo

Intermountain Catholic

LOGAN — In Logan and Salt Lake City, groups gathered Dec. 12 to pray for those affected by the raid on the Swift meatpacking plant in Hyrum five years ago. The local raid was part of a six-state effort by United States immigration agents that resulted in about 1,300 arrests – the largest immigration raid ever in the nation. In Utah, 147 people were charged; most were deported.

"The raid was very hard for the community here, it had and it still has a very deep impact here. It’s worth it to remember and pray for all the families that were broken," said Cristina Medrano, a parishioner from Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish in Logan, who was one of about 10 people to attend the prayer vigil at Saint Jerome Newman Center at Utah State University. "We know a lot of families and we have friends that do not have papers, and this was very hard for us."

The prayer vigil, like the raid five years ago, was held on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which honors the appearance of the Virgin Mary to Saint Juan Diego in Mexico.

"I think that all we Mexicans have a lot of faith in the Virgin," Medrano said. "We are very hard-working people. No matter what, we always say ‘primero Dios,’ (God always first) and we keep on going, so that’s why we are here today."

At the vigil in front of the Cathedral of the Madeleine, about two dozen people gathered to light candles and sing ‘We Shall Overcome.’

"I know what it’s like to live in fear. I know what it’s like to be afraid," said a man who asked not to be named because he is undocumented. A University of Utah graduate, he came to the U.S. when he was 3, and said he attended the vigil so the effects of the raid won’t be forgotten. "Even though it didn’t affect my direct family, it affected my community," he said.