Human rights advocates have said the raids are meant to discourage voter turnout<\/a>, while ICE spokespeople have claimed the department merely \u201cenforces the law of the nation across the country, including California.\u201d<\/p>\n Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph V. Brennan<\/a>, leader of the 1.2-million diocese of Fresno, attempted to add a spiritual element to the discussion earlier this month.<\/p>\n Catholics have used Scripture to argue for<\/a> and against deportations and strict immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n Brennan issued a letter offering guidance<\/a> from a Catholic perspective. He pushed back against the \u201cindiscriminate nature\u201d of raids and added that the Catholic Church \u201cwill not be silent\u201d and \u201cwill accompany our vulnerable neighbors in concrete, sustained ways.\u201d<\/p>\n Essential California asked the bishop about his letter and the church\u2019s role in the immigration debate while checking in with a couple of Catholic scholars who offered their perspectives.<\/p>\n You’re reading the Essential California newsletter <\/p>\n L.A. Times reporters guide you through the most important news, features and recommendations of the morning.<\/p>\n By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service<\/a>, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy<\/a> such as personalizing your experience and ads. <\/p>\n What did Brennan write?<\/p>\n Brennan, who served at St. Linus in Norwalk and the Cathedral at St. Vibiana<\/a> in downtown L.A. en route to becoming bishop, said congregations \u201chave been taken away abruptly and with little or no information coming from federal agents.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur country and our elected officials must do better,\u201d Brennan wrote. \u201cWe need tangible results that reflect meaningful and just immigration reform. Until such reform is achieved, the dignity of our immigrant brothers and sisters must remain in the forefront of whatever shape our efforts might take.\u201d<\/p>\n Brennan said his letter was based on direction offered by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in November<\/a>. In their letter, the bishops attempted to balance human dignity and a right for governments to humanely protect borders.<\/p>\n Does the Catholic Church advocate for open borders?<\/p>\n Brennan said human dignity and national security are not in conflict and both are possible if people of good will work together.<\/p>\n \u201cOctober is Respect Life Month in the Catholic Church,\u201d he said. \u201cMuch like we advocate for the dignity of life when we urge women to not have abortions, we are also advocating for that same dignity of life when we accompany our migrant brothers and sisters.\u201d<\/p>\n The Conference of Catholic Bishops said as much in November, recognizing that \u201cnations have a responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system for the sake of the common good.\u201d<\/p>\n Father William O\u2019Neill, a Jesuit priest and director of immigration ethics at the Markkula Center<\/a> for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, argued that the Church has never advocated for open borders.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d say that\u2019s a primary misunderstanding,\u201d O\u2019Neill said. \u201cThe recognition that the state, by its very nature, has a right to control its borders has always been a part of Catholic social teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n He, along with San Jos\u00e9 Bishop Oscar Cant\u00fa and Markkula colleague David DeCosse, penned an opinion piece in May for the National Catholic Reporter<\/a> noting that those for and against deportations often rely on dueling biblical scriptures.<\/p>\n \u201cThese biblical mandates neither require \u2018open borders\u2019 nor prohibit deportation,\u201d the trio wrote.<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill noted that the church strives to find a middle ground, \u201cto have a safe and legal pathway [to stay] in accordance with international law.\u201d<\/p>\n The Catholic Church\u2019s message is arguing against cruelty<\/p>\n Cecilia Gonz\u00e1les-Andrieu, professor of theology and human rights at Loyola Marymount University and the former president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States, said that Catholics in favor of indiscriminate mass deportations are ignoring basic church teachings.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a particular time right now in the United States and a particular set of suffering people, and we don\u2019t get to say, well, now we\u2019re just gonna pretend this isn\u2019t happening,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She said the U.S. bishops were clear in their letter that beyond indiscriminate mass deportations, they also called for an end to \u201cdehumanizing rhetoric and violence.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re talking about needing to be eliminated are the extremes,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about extreme and purposeful cruelty, which goes against the bedrock principles for Catholics \u2014 the sanctity of life and the family.\u201d<\/p>\n Gonz\u00e1les-Andrieu said this cruelty spills over and affects U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n \u201cI have young students who are fearful of being racially profiled, and I\u2019m personally scared for my 92-year-old father,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause if you look Latino or Latina, you are now open to being terrorized.\u201d<\/p>\n The week\u2019s biggest stories (Jason Armond\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n State and electionsTrump Administration policies and reactionsMeghan Markle\u2019s return to the UKCrime, courts and policingMore newsEditor\u2019s pickMore picksThings to do (Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Sela Shiloni)<\/p>\n Today\u2019s recipe (Bill Addison \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n From the age of the Aztecs to the present, chocolate has served as an integral part of Mexican cuisine. It\u2019s still enjoyed most as a drink in Mexico, preferably made with a molinillo. But Mexican chocolate can also be served as part of a dessert, which isn\u2019t seen to much in Mexico. Here, we add the decadent ingredient for a delicious churros dip<\/a>. The flavors will blow your mind.<\/p>\n Photo of the day UCLA wide receiver Semaj Morgan runs for extra yards over Michigan State cornerback NiJhay Burt at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday. The No. 9-ranked Bruins won 28-10.<\/p>\n (Allen J. Schaben\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Games Here\u2019s today\u2019s mini crossword<\/a>, plus our other free, daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and jigsaw games<\/a>.<\/p>\n Have a great day, from the Essential California team<\/p>\n Jack Dolan, investigative reporter How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>. Check our top stories<\/a>, topics<\/a> and the latest articles<\/a> on latimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since early October, we\u2019ve reported on increased ICE raids throughout Central California that have rattled these heavily Latino…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,2299,1085,891,2300,2297,340,2303,63,2302,1086,1459,2301,2298,74,225,315,688],"class_list":["post-507095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-civic-revolt","tag-covid","tag-covid-19","tag-days","tag-essential-california","tag-israel","tag-l-a","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-may","tag-pandemic","tag-part","tag-president-biden","tag-red-county","tag-san-diego","tag-state","tag-time","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Rapper](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792893011_664_.jpeg\")
<\/a> <\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792893012_592_.png\")
<\/a> <\/p>\n![\"Churros](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792893013_189_.jpeg\")
<\/a> <\/p>\n![\"UCLA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792893013_523_.jpeg\")
<\/a> <\/p>\n![\"Mini](\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/21\/ec\/25146a67473fbc80fa9a6e5bdb82\/minicrossword-kyle.svg\")
<\/p>\n
Hugo Mart\u00edn, assistant editor, Fast Break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters<\/p>\n