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US Attorney General Defends Immigration Policies In Fort Wayne Speech

By Zach Bernard and Araceli Gomez-Aldana, IPB News | Published on in Uncategorized
(File photo: Gage Skidmore on Flickr)

In a Fort Wayne speech Thursday, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions strongly defended the immigration policies of President Donald Trump’s administration.  As Indiana Public Broadcasting’s Zach Bernard reports, local faith communities pushed back on such policies that separate undocumented children from their parents.

Two of the US’ largest religious denominations have scrutinized the Trump administration’s practices.

The Southern Baptists requested a compassionate path to legal status and a more humane immigration system at its annual convention.

More sharply, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops president Cardinal Daniel DiNardo called it “immoral,” saying, “families are the foundational element of our society and they must be able to stay together.”

According to the Pew Research Center, 52 percent of Catholics in Northeast Indiana voted for Trump in the 2016 election. Sessions says he’s listened to faith leaders, and remains sympathetic to their concerns.

“But I am a law officer. A law officer for a nation state. A secular nation state; not a theocracy, it’s not a church. If we have laws — and I believe we have reasonable immigration laws — they should be enforced.”

This comment was a break from Sessions’ prepared remarks.  He spent 30 minutes defending the administration’s policies, and the message was simple: if you break US immigration laws, you will be punished.

Protestors Outside Parkview Field

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Parkview Field to demonstrate against Sessions’ visit. The protests were organized by People For the Common Good and United Activists of Fort Wayne Indiana.

They held up signs and chanted things like “This is what Democracy looks like!” and “NATO Vote Them Out!”

Sarah Hyndman is one of the co-founders of People For the Common Good. She was confused as to why Sessions chose Fort Wayne. She knows that the area is known to be conservative but also has a lot of refugees and hopes that’s not why he came.

“It would be a shame if he is trying to stir up divisiveness. But I think what he doesn’t know is we really thrive on diversity here.”