Babylon Mass an appeal with prayer to spotlight threats to immigrants

At a special Roman Catholic Mass in Babylon on Sunday afternoon, the Rev. Robert Smith began his sermon by recounting a history of hostility toward immigrants in the United States.

Chinese, Italians, Poles, Irish and Eastern European Jews — people, Smith said, who were dismissed as "simply not as deserving as those who had been there for a long stretch of time."

Sunday's Mass, Smith told the congregation, however, was intended to "express our solidarity with our immigrant brothers and sisters."

The afternoon service, "A Mass of Welcome and Solidarity with Immigrants," was organized by Catholics Welcome Immigrants, an advocacy group whose members include priests, religious sisters and lay people from parishes across Long Island.

The group’s purpose, and the goal of Sunday specifically, is to encourage Long Islanders to support immigrants living in fear of potential arrest and deportation, Richard Koubek, a member of the steering committee, told Newsday.

The Mass was offered at St. Joseph’s Church in Babylon, Koubek said, "to send the message that the issue of immigration is not one concerning only heavily Latino, or Haitian communities — it is for all of us to address."

Bishop John Barres, head of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, gave his blessing but declined an invitation to attend the Mass, Koubek said.

Smith is the pastor of St. Hugh of Lincoln Church in Huntington Station, where, he estimated, roughly 70% to 75% of the parishioners came to the United States from Central America.

The pastor, who also celebrated the Mass, and seven other priests, took turns reading prayers aloud to the nearly 100 people seated inside the church: for laws that better protect immigrants and refugees, for children separated from their parents, and for safe and just working conditions for immigrant laborers.

Some of the priests read their prayers in Spanish or Haitian Creole.

Catholics Welcome Immigrants has condemned the Trump administration’s deportation campaign, which it has said violates essential Christian tenets of hospitality and compassion toward "strangers" and "sojourners."

Between January 2025 and Aug. 6 of this year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has made roughly 3,000 arrests on Long Island, according to public records released by the nonprofit Deportation Data Project and analyzed by Newsday.

After his return to the White House last year, President Donald Trump said his administration would be targeting violent criminals for deportation.

Two-thirds of people arrested by ICE nationwide have no criminal record, according to a recent study.

Families have been separated and deportees have been sent to countries where they have no family or connections, and where they have faced abuse and torture, according to Human Rights Watch. 

Catholics Welcome Immigrants has also expressed frustration toward the Diocese of Rockville Centre, which the group said has not spoken out or acted sufficiently to protect imperiled immigrant communities at a time of crisis, Newsday previously reported. 

In statement to Newsday in June, the diocese said that Barres has called for "comprehensive immigration reform and compassionate care for migrants."

After the Mass, Koubek spoke against the "cruel mass deportations" and the end of temporary protective status for Haitians. He urged the congregation to support immigrant-owned businesses, to support the Long Island Immigrant Justice Alliance and to join Catholics Welcome Immigrants. "Today is not just an event, it’s a movement," Koubek said.

Sandra Maliner, of Rockville Centre, attended the Mass because of her concern about what immigrants on Long Island and everywhere else are facing.

"I don’t think enough has been said about it, and I don’t think people are aware of the situation," she said. "I think these people all deserve a chance."