{"id":50159,"date":"2025-11-24T11:50:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T11:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/50159\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T11:50:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T11:50:14","slug":"priest-walks-from-illinois-to-new-york-against-inhumane-immigration-enforcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/50159\/","title":{"rendered":"Priest walks from Illinois to New York against \u2018inhumane\u2019 immigration enforcement"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n \"Amira
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

By Amira Abuzeid<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

CNA Staff, Nov 24, 2025 \/
\n 06:00 am<\/p>\n

After a month and a half of walking an average of 17 miles a day, 67-year-old Father Gary Graf said he is starting to get \u201ca little pain in one shin,\u201d but his broken ribs are \u201cgetting much better.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Oct. 6, Graf, a Catholic priest from Chicago, began a journey on foot from Pope Leo XIV\u2019s childhood home in Dolton, Illinois, to New York City to bring attention to the plight of immigrants amid the sometimes \u201cinhumane\u201d ways the Trump administration is treating them during its immigration enforcement actions.<\/p>\n

He hopes to arrive at the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island, where his own great-grandparents entered the country as immigrants, by Dec. 2.<\/p>\n

\"FatherFather Gary Graf speaks to a fellow American at Red Horse Tavern in Pleasant Gap, Pennsylvania, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Gary Graf<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, when visiting a parish in Indiana, he was invited to ride a horse. He fell off as it galloped and broke several ribs, which led him to take one day off to recover. That day, friends walked in his stead.<\/p>\n

Graf, the pastor of the mostly Hispanic Our Lady of the Heights Catholic Church in Chicago Heights and a longtime member of Priests for Justice for Immigrants, has committed his life to helping immigrants. Ordained in 1984, he spent five years as a priest in Mexico serving a people \u201cwith whom I fell deeply in love.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told CNA that after initially feeling helpless watching the raids taking place against his beloved community in his hometown of Chicago, he \u201cfelt a call that was directly from above\u201d to start walking.<\/p>\n

\"FatherFather Gary Graf poses before a sunrise near Fremont, Ohio, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025. Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Gary Graf<\/p>\n

Within weeks, he was on the road. He first spoke to an old friend about his idea, who immediately connected him with Lauren Foley, the head of a public relations firm. She \u201cimmediately embraced the idea,\u201d and between her help and that of some \u201cyoung people who understand social media,\u201d a website<\/a> as well as social media accounts were set up to chronicle his journey and to share the stories of immigrant families.<\/p>\n

Of the immigrants on whose behalf he is walking, Graf said: \u201cI look to help people who get up every single morning to work and raise their families. If I can do this small gesture on their behalf, what a blessing it is, what a privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the most profound insight he has gained thus far, Graf said his long days walking through the wide expanse of rural America have helped him understand better the ways of people who did not grow up in a multicultural city like he did.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to reverently appreciate and try to connect with those whose lives we\u2019re passing through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As he has spoken with people in diners along his path, Graf has developed \u201ca greater sensitivity,\u201d discovering that \u201cthere\u2019s not a lot of animosity against the immigrant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the people he has met simply do not know any, he said.<\/p>\n

Along the way, he has also experienced unity with Christians from other denominations, as well as with those without religious faith, who all care about the humane treatment of human beings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have seen so much goodness,\u201d he said. \u201cThis has brought so many of us together: people from many different faith traditions, or none. This is an opportunity given to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Story continues below)<\/p>\n

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During his quiet walks through rural farmland, he has marveled at the amount of labor it took to build the many roads, bridges, and overpasses he has seen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure the hands of many immigrants helped build these things,\u201d he reflected.<\/p>\n

Graf said he is delighted that both the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Pope Leo XIV addressed the immigration enforcement situation in the past week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The U.S. bishops issued a special message<\/a> during its Fall Plenary Assembly two weeks ago<\/a>, calling for \u201ca meaningful reform of our nation\u2019s immigration laws and procedures.\u201d The bishops argued that \u201chuman dignity and national security are not in conflict. Both are possible if people of goodwill work together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pope echoed the bishops\u2019 message. On Nov. 18, he acknowledged to reporters<\/a> that \u201cevery country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least \u2014 and there\u2019s been some violence, unfortunately \u2014 I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that I would just invite all people in the United States to listen to them,\u201d the pope said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth the pope and the bishops used the word \u2018indiscriminate\u2019 to talk about the way people are being singled out and aggressively having their wrists zip-tied behind their backs as their faces are pushed to the ground in front of their children,\u201d Graf said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is indeed indiscriminate. This reflects dishonesty on the administration\u2019s part,\u201d he said. \u201cThey said they were going after the \u2018worst of the worst,\u2019 criminals, but this isn\u2019t the case, at least in Chicago. They\u2019re grabbing people first and asking questions later.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe violent way many of these people are being treated is amoral and un-American,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Like the pope and the American bishops, Graf said he hopes the federal government will establish a more humane immigration system that respects the dignity of immigrants as well as the rule of law and the country\u2019s right to regulate its borders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not a politician,\u201d he said. \u201cMy job is to mediate, to speak up, in God\u2019s name, in the united name of the Church. But can we look for a way for those who are fulfilling their responsibilities; for them to one day receive the rights of citizens?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The priest, who appeared on \u201cEWTN News Nightly<\/a>\u201d in October, said he has been \u201cimpressed by the media\u201d and is grateful his message is being spread.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t hear the whole truth, the incredible ignorance and darkness we live in can paralyze us, and keep us from doing what we ought to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n


\n \"Amira
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Amira Abuzeid is a senior editor at Catholic News Agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Amira Abuzeid CNA Staff, Nov 24, 2025 \/ 06:00 am After a month and a half of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3734,2301,9,24,55,54,56,5638,4841,618],"class_list":{"0":"post-50159","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-catholic-news","9":"tag-immigration","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-city-news","14":"tag-ny","15":"tag-pope-leo-xiv","16":"tag-priests","17":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}