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Nov. 19 The Hawk

Page 1

Nov. 19, 2025

Est. 1929

Volume CIX

sjuhawknews.com

OPINIONS

05

Grace Heller ’26 discusses inequities in the Pennsylvania education system.

FEATURES

07

SPORTS

Asian art celebrated in permanent gallery in Frances M. Maguire Art Museum.

12

Men’s tennis doubles partners make program history.

The Student Newspaper of Saint Joseph’s University

Catholic community rallies for immigrants at Philadelphia ICE office Community members walked in a silent procession outside of the Philadelphia Field Office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Nov. 13.

Crowd bears witness for ‘those who have been taken away’ HANNAH PAJTIS ’26 Editor-in-Chief About 100 people gathered outside the Philadelphia Field Office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Nov. 13 for a public witness event in support of immigrant and migrant communities. The event was part of the nationwide “One Church, One Family” campaign, which calls Catholics to “reject the culture of fear and silence that dehumanizes” and to “stand with migrants,” according to the campaign’s website. Campaign partners included the Jesuits of the USA East and West Provinces, the Ignatian Solidarity Network and the Jesuit Refugee Service USA, among others. The Nov. 13 event, one of 68 across the nation held that same day, coincided with the feast day of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, patron saint of immigrants. Cabrini was an Italian immigrant and the first U.S. citizen to be canonized. The campaign sponsored a similar event Oct. 22. Individuals sang and prayed in English and Spanish, processed in silence around the block while following the Eucharist and held signs with messages of unity and solidarity. Messages included “The Holy Family were forced to flee, too” and “Build bridges, not walls,” a reference to a statement issued Oct. 31, 2024, by the late Pope Francis about community. “We are to welcome the stranger, welcome our neighbors, welcome migrants and integrate them into our communities because we are ‘one church, one family,’” said Andrew Hanson-Quintana, an organizer of the campaign and director of communications for the Ignatian Solidarity Network.

A rise in arrests and detention Since President Donald Trump took office Jan. 20, arrests by ICE have doubled, and the number of individuals being detained is at an all-time high. As of Sept. 21, there were 59,762 individuals in ICE detention. In Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, ICE arrested 4,969 people between Jan. 20 and June 26. In the Philadelphia area, raids have occurred at locations like a park in the Whitman neighborhood and the Super Gigante food market in West Norriton. Over 4-in-10 American Catholics are immigrants or the children of immigrants, according to data from the Pew Research Center. Of this group, the majority are Asian Catholics and Hispanic Catholics. Across the nation, people are “being brutalized and aggressively attacked, either for being an immigrant, having the observable characteristics of one, as the Supreme Court said, or standing up for them,” said Sister Michelle Cimaroli of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who spoke at the event. “We hear of people trying to follow the rules set forth by our government, to appear in court and at check-ins here in this building right behind us, only to have their lives and the lives of their children violently disrupted, often with permanent effect,” Cimaroli told the crowd. “It all forces people — the children of God — to live in constant fear.” Standing ‘in solidarity and kinship’ Nationwide, individuals have mobilized to protest the mass detention and deportation of migrant communities, with

Beth Ford McNamee ’99, Ed.D. ’22, former associate director of St. Joe’s Campus Ministry, speaks to the crowd at the public witness event, Nov. 13. PHOTOS: LUKE SANELLI ’26/THE HAWK

concerns rising over the increased use of force by ICE agents. In addition to secular protests, religious groups have organized rallies and vigils. Some individuals — like seven faith leaders at a Nov. 14 multifaith service outside the Broadview ICE facility in Illinois — were arrested. Mary Gay Scanlon, U.S. representative for Pennsylvania’s 5th congressional district who attended the gathering in Philadelphia, described the treatment of migrants as “inhumane.” Scanlon was one of several members of Congress who attended an Oct. 24 shadow congressional hearing in Chicago that examined the impacts of ICE raids on the local community. “Our system has long been broken, but what we’re seeing under this administration is truly horrific — the dehumanization of people, the vilification of our neighbors,”

Scanlon said. People of all ages attended the gathering, including a cohort of students from St. Joseph’s Preparatory School. In addition to carrying signs, students held images, such as a painting depicting Our Lady of Guadalupe — an apparition of the Virgin Mary in 16th century Mexico. Matt Shields ’27, a St. Joseph’s Preparatory School alum, emphasized the role of youth in standing up for immigration justice. Shields grew passionate about immigration justice after going on an immersion trip to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas in high school and spending time at border camps. “PUBLIC WITNESS” CONTINUED ON PG. 2


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