Immigrants find hope, protection in LA Guadalupe parish tour
Every fall, specially blessed “pilgrim images” of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego spend several weeks visiting parishes and cemeteries around the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, where they’re greeted with all kinds of devotions and celebrations by Latino Catholics: Masses, group rosaries, Eucharistic adoration, processions, and even mariachi performances.
In that sense, this year’s annual pilgrimage is no different. But after a summer of widespread fear caused by increased immigration enforcement, this year’s tour has taken on a much deeper meaning than usual for Catholics in immigrant communities.
Since June, mass sweeps by Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, part of the Trump Administration’s efforts to ramp up deportations, have left Catholics across the archdiocese scrambling, disoriented, and wary of what might come next.