From left, Karina Garnica, Gricelda Garnica and Vanessa Torres work for the Diocese of Davenport Immigration Office. The department was nominated for the Catholic Extension Society’s Lumen Christi Award.
By Barb Arland-Fye
The Catholic Messenger
Vanessa Torres accepted a position as administrative assistant with the Diocese of Davenport’s Immigration Office unaware that the office had assisted her family two decades ago. Her mother told her about it after Torres began working for the diocese last year. In gratitude, Torres, a recent Drake University graduate, shared her family’s story as part of the diocese’s application to nominate the Immigration Office for Catholic Extension Society’s Lumen Christi Award.
The Immigration Office is now one of 37 nominees for the Lumen Christi Award, bestowed on people “who radiate and reveal the light of Christ present in the communities in which they serve,” according to Catholic Extension’s website. The nominees are “leading people closer to God and transforming communities located in the poorest regions of America.” Catholic Extension will announce the finalists in August and the recipient in the fall.
Torres shared how her father immigrated to the U.S. but traveled back and forth to Mexico to see his wife and their firstborn son before they joined him in the U.S. to be together. Torres’ father gained citizenship first and later applied on behalf of his wife and son. However, an accident at the family’s apartment in California interrupted the process. They relocated to the Illinois Quad Cities and resumed the application process after an uncle told them about the Davenport Diocese’s Immigration Office and suggested seeking help there.
“Since I was only a few months old, my mother would bring me along to all her appointments and thanks to the help of the Diocesan Immigration Program they were able to resume the case they had already started, Torres said. “Soon my mother was able to get her residency and my brother became a citizen.” The Immigration Office’s help enabled her parents to have “more opportunities and to be able to make a better future not only for themselves but for their children.”
Now in her early 20s, Torres said that when her mother shared their family’s connection to the Immigration Office, “in that moment it really did feel like it all came full circle. I knew I had made the right decision in taking the position.” Her hope is to “help people from all over the world (to) be able to feel relief and comfort that we will help them with their immigration status the same way the program helped my family in the past.”
Strengthening families
“The Immigration Office is a worthy award nominee because of the more than 10,000 clients served over the 50+ years that services have been provided,” diocesan Social Action Director Kent Ferris told The Catholic Messenger. “The Immigration Office, specializing in family reunification for persons eligible to pursue legal status, has strengthened families and communities all across the diocese. Our commitment to immigration services is connected directly to our respect for strengthening families.”
The Immigration Office’s longtime counselors, Gricelda Garnica and Karina Garnica, are instrumental in this effort, Deacon Ferris said. Both are accredited U.S. Department of Justice immigration counselors who assist U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents in petitioning the government for visas to allow their relatives to immigrate to the United States. Legal permanent residents may petition for children and spouses while U.S. citizens may also petition for their siblings and parents.
“Both Gricelda Garnica and Karina Garnica have been in their positions well beyond my 15 years supervising the office,” Deacon Ferris said. “That level of stability is of profound value to clients and that is why most referrals are from word of mouth, rather than advertising.” With the assistance of Torres and longtime volunteer Glenn Leach, the counselors are able to guide clients through a process that can take 15 to 20 years for their loved ones to attain citizenship.
“I have seen the needs of the people,” Gricelda Garnica said, “and when they finally get together after long years of separation, to see their joy, fulfills me. It feels like I am actually doing something for somebody else.” Garnica, who began working in the Immigration Office 25 years ago, is an immigrant herself. She knows the challenges immigrants face because she walked in their shoes. She admits the work can be discouraging at times because of situations and delays outside of her control. “When you see people suffering and your hands are tied … I’m still struggling to manage that,” she admits. However, she firmly believes “God was always with me and is still with me.”
“Coming from a close-knit community and family, where we all help each other, helping and giving back to my community is a large motivation,” said Karina Garnica, who is not related to Gricelda Garnica. “However, the greatest motivation is having a sense of satisfaction after working through long, challenging cases and seeing them to the end and knowing that I was able to successfully help and reunite families.”
She noted that changes in rules and regulations through her 19 years on the job “have led to an increase in case work while we also need to stay up to date with the changes.” Conversely, new opportunities have arisen for various groups, she said, such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), refugees, and noncitizens outside the U.S. requesting parole into the U.S. because of urgent humanitarian need or significant public benefit reasons.
Diocesan support
“In 1991, I came to the United States under the Amerasian Homecoming Act,” a woman named Katelyne shared in a letter of support for the Immigration Office’s nomination for the Lumen Christi Award. “My mother was a spy for the United States during the Vietnam War. She fell in love with an American soldier who returned home, without knowing she was pregnant with me. I was four when the Viet Cong began to suspect my mother and she had to leave me with my grandpa to survive.”
A church group sponsored Katelyne to come to the U.S. with her husband and young son. “They took me to your office and with the help of a translator, completed the paperwork for us,” she said. “About five years later, I sponsored my mom to come … You helped me with the forms and lined up all the documents, so the process went smoothly. Whenever I have had questions, you have always been very helpful and professional. Thank you for your help over the years. It is truly appreciated.”
Diocesan Administrator Father Ken Kuntz said the Immigration Office manages to make the process affordable for clients by charging nominal fees and receiving support from the Annual Diocesan Appeal. “The number of individuals who have benefited can conservatively raise to 20,000-30,000 when accounting for the spouses and children who have experienced the life-affirming phenomena of family reunification,” he said. People like the 60-year-old legal permanent resident who served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War and obtained citizenship through the Immigration Office. “Office staff attended his naturalization ceremony,” Father Kuntz said. He shared the grateful veteran’s response: “I wouldn’t have been able to figure all this stuff out on my own…. They help a lot of people who need it.’”
