U.S.

Plight of migrant workers in U.S. ‘a humanitarian crisis,’ says Bishop John Manz

By Joyce Duriga | Editor
Sunday, December 8, 2013

Plight of migrant workers in U.S. ‘a humanitarian crisis,’ says Bishop John Manz

For the past 10 years, Auxiliary Bishop John Manz of Chicago has traveled all over the United States visiting migrant workers on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Judith Garcia and Hilario Macias pray during Mass at Good Shepherd Parish in Russellville, Ala., Oct. 22. Three years ago, their 10-year-old daughter was struck by a drunk driver when she was walking in a yard. The driver, a white man, swerved off the road and hit the girl.The girl, Brittany, suffered brain damage and is unable to talk or walk. Police never charged the man and ruled the incident an accident. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Photo of Brittany, daughter of Judith Garcia and Hilario Macias who are members of Good Shepherd Parish in Russellville, Ala. Three years ago, she was struck by a drunk driver when she was walking in a yard. The driver, a white man, swerved off the road and hit the girl. The girl, Brittany, suffered brain damage and is unable to talk or walk. Police never charged the man and ruled the incident an accident. Chicago Auxiliary Bishop John Manz, Episcopal Liaison to Migrant Farmworkers and is a member of the Subcommittee on Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees and Travelers, toured Alabama Oct. 21-24 to visit migrant workers on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church. This was Bishop Manz's tenth pastoral trip to visit workers across the country. The trip took him to visit workers who labor in chicken processing plants and on tomato farms. (Photo provided)
Auxiliary Bishop John Manz of Chicago toured Alabama Oct. 21-24 to visit migrant workers on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church. This was Bishop Manz's tenth pastoral trip to visit workers across the country. The trip took him to visit workers who labor in chicken processing plants and on tomato farms. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
From right, Adolfo Ruiz and his wife Fabiola Ruiz pray with Yaslie Dera and Allison Deras during the Mass at Good Shepherd on Oct. 22. Adolfo and his wife are originally from Honduras. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Chicago Auxiliary Bishop John Manz listens as a migrant woker shares his story during a recoption at Good Shepherd Parish in Russellville, Ala., Oct. 22. The reception followed a Mass in the church. Manz, Episcopal Liaison to Migrant Farmworkers and is a member of the Subcommittee on Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees and Travelers, toured Alabama Oct. 21-24 to visit migrant workers on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church. This was Bishop Manz's tenth pastoral trip to visit workers across the country. The trip took him to visit workers who labor in chicken processing plants and on tomato farms. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Women walk past an old gas station converted into worship space that has served as a chapel for migrant workers from Guatemala for the past five years in Boaz Alabama. Many of the men work in the chicken processing plants. Bishop Manz celebrated Mass at the chapel on Oct. 23. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World
Women from Guatamala sprinkle rose petals before Bishop Manz as he processes into Mass with in the chapel in Boaz. Ala. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
A traditional Guatamalan band provided music for the Mass on Oct. 23. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Bishop Manz blesses participants following Mass. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Sebastian Miguel, 6, smiles after receiving a blessing from Auxiliary Bishop John Manz of Chicago following Mass with workers of Guatemalan decent in Boaz Alabama. Many of the men work in the chicken processing plants. They celebrated Mass in an old gas station converted into worship space that has served as their chapel for the past five years. Manz toured Alabama Oct. 21-24 to visit migrant workers on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church. This was Bishop Manz's tenth pastoral trip to visit workers across the country. The trip took him to visit workers who labor in chicken processing plants and on tomato farms. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Bishop Manz listens to a worker share his story during a gathering at "El Nino Dios" store in Kilpatrick, Ala., on Oct. 23. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
A convienence store located near the homes of migrant workers who work in the chicken plants carries many religious items as well as staples for them to purchase. Bishop Manz visited the store in Kilpatrick, Ala., on Oct. 23 and blessed religious articles (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Along with staples such as water and aluminum foil, "El Nino Dios" store carries religious candles for purchase. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Onuldo Maldonado who works on a tomatoe farm during harvest season and attends college in between looks over some of the crop left in one of the trucks in Steele, Ala., on Oct. 24. Tomatos are hand picked and boxed before transport since automated harvesting machines would crush or bruise the tomato. Workers are paid $2 per box that they pick. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
A small farmstand on the road to the tomato farm has a variety of tomoatos for sale for passers by in Steele, Ala. on Oct. 24. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Matteo Francisco pulls up sticks after the last of the tomato crop was harvested in Steele, Ala., on Oct. 24. Auxiliary Bishop John Manz toured Alabama Oct. 21-24 to visit migrant workers on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Alejandro Sebastian pulls up sticks from tomato plants on Oct. 24. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Junior Martinez holds one of the chickens his family owns outside their home in Steele Alabama. His father works at one of the tomato farms during harvest season and then looks for work in the off-season. Auxiliary Bishop John Manz of Chicago toured Alabama Oct. 21-24 to visit migrant workers on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church. This was Bishop Manz's tenth pastoral trip to visit workers across the country. The trip took him to visit workers who labor in chicken processing plants and on tomato farms. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Auxiliary Bishop John Manz of Chicago celebrates Mass in a barn on a tomato farm with workers in Steele Alabama. Manz toured Alabama Oct. 21-24 to visit migrant workers on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church. This was Bishop Manz's tenth pastoral trip to visit workers across the country. The trip took him to visit workers who labor in chicken processing plants and on tomato farms. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Bishop Manz gives a blessing to Francisco Martinez and his wife Zenona Hernandez following a Mass on Oct. 24 in a barn where the workers pick tomatoes. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)
Children run in an out of a barn on a tomato farm as Bishop Manz of Chicago celebrates Mass in Steele, Ala. (Karen Callaway / Catholic New World)

For the past 10 years, Auxiliary Bishop John Manz of Chicago has traveled all over the United States visiting migrant workers on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

And he said that life and conditions are pretty much the same for the workers now as when he started making the trips.

“I don’t think a whole lot has changed in my mind, sadly. It hasn’t gotten much better,” Bishop Manz said during a trip to Alabama to visit migrant workers.

His travels have taken him to states such as California, Utah, Oregon, Ohio, Florida, Washington and Arkansas. From Oct. 21 to 24, Bishop Manz visited migrant workers in rural Alabama as a member of the Subcommittee on Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees and Travelers.

The annual trips are sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church. Scalabrini Sister Myrna Tordillo, an assistant director of the secretariat, accompanied Bishop Manz to Alabama.

The trip originally was to visit migrant farmworkers, but, Bishop Manz said, “in more recent years, it has morphed into a ministry to rural immigrant communities.”

The growth of big processing centers, whether for dairy or meat, has enabled immigrants to stay in one place for longer periods.

“It wouldn’t be migrant workers in the sense that years ago they would come in and work for a season and go back, although we do have some of that,” he said. “This is a phenomena in the last 10 to 15 years that draws your immigrant community because it’s usually dirty work, it’s not high paid and there’s a great need for it.”

Many of the workers Bishop Manz visits are undocumented.

In rural Alabama, many of the workers are employed in chicken processing plants putting out about 300,000 pieces of chicken a day. Bishop Manz said the immigrant workers are attracted to these rural areas because they don’t stand out. They fall under the radar.

“They are kind of quietly there making their money, working two, sometimes three shifts,” he told the Catholic New World during an interview in Alabama. “And naturally the companies are going to get folks who are going to work for the minimum wage to do this kind of work because, in spite of what many people say, that these folks are coming up and taking away jobs, who’s gonna do it?”

As an example, he related how some of the folks told him there is now a special glove that covers both the thumb and index finger because a lot of people would have fingers cut off when cutting the chickens. And most of the workers must provide their own health care.

On these trips, Bishop Manz spends a lot of time listening to the people, hearing their personal stories of working in the fields or in the plants.

“Are the people on this trip telling me anything different? I’m afraid not,” he said.

However, the presence of many Guatemalans in Alabama caught his attention. Spanish isn’t their first language so it poses more challenges for them and for the church to minister to them.

“I still wonder if anybody has a good handle on how many Guatemalans are here working in the country that are undocumented. It’s easily in the tens of thousands, if not in the hundreds of thousands because of all of the violence down there after the war,” he said.

Migrant or undocumented immigrant workers live in a constant state of fear that they will get picked up and be deported. They come here because they need the money, but they would most likely rather be at home, Bishop Manz explained.

“Normally, unless you’re talking about young folks looking for a little change of pace, you’re not going to take up roots and take the experience of going across the border unless something’s really pushing you,” he said. “That’s the famous push-pull factor. That the pull is, ‘Hey, there are jobs there.’ The push is, ‘Hey, we got nothing here so you can’t lose anything by going up there.’”

The fear stays with them, even if they’ve been in the United States for 20 years, because they can be picked up anytime.

“Yesterday, the owner of the store and the wife came out and they were very distraught because their one son had been picked up for a driving violation,” Bishop Manz said. “Of course he’s in jail now. He’s not documented.”

Just getting to the U.S. from Central America is perilous, he said.

“Women raped, people robbed, beat up, and if they make it to the train they may fall off at night and have an arm severed or are crushed on the tracks,” he said. “Then they get to the border and they get ripped off by the people bringing them up here.”

On his visits, Bishop Manz said, he tells the people that the larger church is there for them, that the bishops have been lobbying on Capitol Hill for immigration reform for many years.

He also tries to encourage them in their faith, “saying that our faith is meant to console us, to encourage us, but it also challenges us. We have to live together as a church and be together and help each other. Sometimes that means even some confrontation.”

“It’s a humanitarian crisis,” he added. “There has to be concern for what’s going on because it affects us and we’re involved in it because we’re eating these things.”

Catholics need to be aware of these workers in their communities and be concerned about what they face, the bishop said. “Some really nasty, nasty stuff goes on behind the scenes — not only harassment but extortion, rapes, separation of families. Some of it is very, very evil.”

Bishop Manz noted that most every immigrant group coming to America has faced the same conditions.

“They’re the bottom of the ladder, but does that make it good that we continue that?” he asked. “Haven’t we learned anything along the way?”

The current immigration system lends itself to more abuses, he said.

“As a society we want our pleasures — our Chicken McNuggets and all that — but where does it come from?” he asked.

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