Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin’s criticism of U.S. immigration policy and his condemnation of recent raids reflect the views of Catholic bishops and other religious leaders around the country — and of Pope Benedict XVI, who called for immigration reform in his visit to the United States this spring.

Some churches have gone further, offering sanctuary to illegal immigrants facing arrest by ICE agents.

During the past two years, ICE raids have taken place at factories, farms, meat-packing plants, stores, shopping malls and other locations. High-profile enforcement actions took place in Greeley, Colo.; Grand Island, Neb.; Postville, Iowa; Salt Lake City, Utah; and at the Michael Bianco factory in New Bedford, among other places. ICE agents conducted raids in apartments, stores and other locations in Newport and Middletown in June, and at six state courthouses last month.

The raids have increased since Congress failed to enact comprehensive immigration reform last year.

In March, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration encouraged a decrease or elimination of immigration raids during a meeting with Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers of the Department of Homeland Security. Myers heads the ICE division within DHS and oversees enforcement of U.S. immigration law.

The committee’s bishops also asked that churches, hospitals, and charities not be targeted for enforcement actions.

Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, the committee chairman, noted that children who are U.S. citizens have been separated from their undocumented parents who were arrested in the raids.

“Our primary concern is to reduce the trauma that children experience when a parent is taken away suddenly,” said Bishop Wester. He added, “We do not want migrants to be afraid to attend Mass or to seek the basic assistance that they need.”

After scores of federal agents raided at a meat-packing plant in Postville, Iowa in June, Archbishop Jerome Hanus of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, said the raid “highlights once again the need for comprehensive immigration reform. Families have been disrupted, parents and children are filled with fear. Many are uncertain whether their loved ones will be arrested, imprisoned indefinitely or deported.”

Nearly 400 of the Agriproccesors plant’s 900 workers were arrested in the largest single-site raid of illegal immigrants in the country’s history. Federal authorities charged roughly 300 of them with identity theft and using stolen Social Security cards.

Archbishop Hanus said, “This state of terror for families is evidence that our political system has not adequately addressed the demand for labor, the inadequacies of our present immigration policies and practices, and the broader economic challenges. Some of the weakest members among us are bearing the brunt of the suffering, while legislators and other leaders, as well as many of us in the general public, have failed to give this issue the priority that it deserves.”

During his first official U.S. visit in April, Pope Benedict XVI spoke to the immigration issue.

“I have seen the breadth of this problem, above all the grave problem of the separation of families,” the New York Times reported. “This really is dangerous for the fabric — social, moral, human — of these countries.”

Several weeks ago, Roger Michael Cardinal Mahony called for renewed hope and justice “during a dark moment in our nation’s history” with regard to immigrants, refugees and newcomers to the United States.

During his keynote address to the National Migration Conference in Washington, Cardinal Mahony denounced the enforcement-only policies that “have led to fear in our immigrant communities and to the creation of a negative atmosphere against all immigrants, fanning the flames of intolerance, xenophobia, and, at times, bigotry.”

“We have also seen attempts to stifle the Church’s mission through proposals to criminalize those who strive to serve the basic human needs of migrants. A human being’s worth is defined by their God-given dignity, not by what papers they carry,” the Cardinal said.

Some churches around the country have granted sanctuary to illegal immigrants, following the high-profile case of Elvira Arellano in Chicago. Arellano sought sanctuary to avoid separation from her then 7-year-old son, an American citizen.

Many churches across the country have also raised money to help support detainees after the raids. In the past few weeks, two Providence churches — St. Patrick and St. Teresa De Avila, held fundraisers to support the 31 janitors detained after the courthouse raids.

Material from the Los Angeles Times, the Houston Chronicle and the Arizona Republic was included in this report.

kziner@projo.com