Bishop Thomas J. Tobin’s call letter to ICE was also signed by 15 pastors.

PROVIDENCE — Breaking new ground on the national immigration debate, Rhode Island’s Roman Catholic bishop yesterday called on federal immigration officials to stop the mass arrests of suspected illegal immigrants, saying the raids had cast a “pall of fear” across the state and torn families and communities apart.

A letter from Bishop Thomas J. Tobin and 15 pastors also took the extraordinary step of calling on immigration agents to “evaluate the morality of their participation in immigration raids” and consider refusing to take part in them if they cannot do so in good conscience.

The letter sent to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Boston, said that recent raids on Aquidneck Island and in state courthouses were so “unjust” and “unnecessary” as to be immoral.

The call for a moratorium on immigration raids is believed to be the first of its kind in the country. Yesterday, a spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said that the organization, representing all of America’s Roman Catholic Bishops, is considering issuing a similar request — for a nationwide moratorium on raids — “in light of the large number of raids and the devastation they’re bringing to immigrant communities in this country.”

In their letter, Bishop Tobin and the pastors said: “What we have witnessed is that the police action of ICE against immigrants has divided the community, instilled fear in our streets, disrupted the everyday life of good people and separated family members, innocent of any crime, from one another. The secretive detention of those arrested has further complicated the situation.”

“As religious leaders concerned for our people, we would be negligent of our pastoral duties if we didn’t speak out against those unjust government policies and practices.”

The letter follows months of turmoil over the immigration issue in Rhode Island, heightened by Governor Carcieri’s executive order cracking down on illegal immigration, and the courthouse raids and those in Newport and Middletown during which more than 70 suspected illegal immigrants were detained.

In an interview yesterday, Bishop Tobin said he reached out to pastors three weeks ago, inviting them to come to a meeting Tuesday to discuss some of the disturbing reports he was hearing around the diocese in the wake of the raids and the fallout from Carcieri’s order. Together, said Bishop Tobin, the events had “created really a toxic atmosphere in our state.”

For example, Bishop Tobin said, the pastors had heard that many immigrants do their grocery shopping “in the wee hours of the morning” for fear if they went during the day they would be arrested.

Parents weren’t taking their children to health-care services for fear they would have to sign forms “and they didn’t know if they would be swept up in some raid.”

Similarly, some parents were not enrolling their children — American citizens — in school, he said, “because the parents were afraid to send their kids out. And if the parents got swept up, detained, deported they might never see their children again.”

Bishop Tobin said what particularly disturbed him were reports that in some churches that offer Masses geared to the Hispanic population, attendance had dramatically dropped.

“Now when we get involved in that area — the ability to practice their faith — that becomes a concern for me right away.”

Bishop Tobin said, “We recognize a lot of them are here illegally … But keep in mind many of them are here because the system itself is broken. We’ve gone two decades … with this current immigration policy that has enabled and allowed this situation to develop. People who came here did not come here with the express purpose of breaking the law. They came to make a living for themselves and their families and the government has allowed that to happen … because of the lax interpretation of immigration laws and the fact that there hasn’t been enforcement.”

Certainly the laws of the land must be enforced, the bishop said, but “God’s law” must also be followed.

“I know for sure what Jesus would not do,” the bishop said. “He would not sweep into a community, gather up large groups of people, separate family members one from another and deport them to another country. I know for sure he would not do that.”

The bishop addressed the letter to Stephen J. Farquharson, interim director of the Boston ICE office. In a written response, released to the media, Kelly Nantel, a spokeswoman for that office said: “While we have great respect for Bishop Tobin and his colleagues, we believe their congregations and communities would be better served by helping individuals to comply with the law or working to change those laws rather than asking law enforcement agents not to enforce it.”

The ICE statement said the agency’s agents had all sworn an oath to uphold the nation’s laws. “While we fully intend to continue to enforce the law, I would stress that we do so professionally and with an acute awareness of the impact that enforcement has on the individuals we encounter.”

Several priests who attended Tuesday’s meeting and signed the letter spoke of the fear spread by the recent raids and Carcieri’s executive order, which calls for state police and prison correctional officers to be trained for eventual immigration enforcement powers. They praised Bishop Tobin’s leadership on the issue.

The Rev. Raymond Malm, the new pastor at St. Joseph Church in Newport, said, “It does call for, I think, a change of law by the federal government. I don’t think the executive order helped anything. I think it brought lots of negative attention, and I think that that went hand in hand with the raids. Did it cause the raids? I don’t think so,” he said. “Those are taking place all around the country.” .

The Rev. James Ruggieri of St. Patrick Church in Providence, said, “The bishop says, and I support him, that this is not helpful. It’s stirring up fear among people who are undocumented but also people who are documented. It’s lending itself — and people may be not willing to admit this — but it’s further prejudice against people of color.

He added, “I think the bishop is saying, it’s a very shortsighted answer to a greater problem.”

Kevin Appleby, director of migration for the conference of bishops, said to his knowledge Bishop Tobin is the only one who has called for an end to or moratorium on the raids.

“There have been bishops who have spoken out against raids but the opposition has been if they’re going to conduct them it’s got to be in a way to prevent separation of children from their parents and to ensure that the rights of those who are arrested are protected during the legal process,” Appleby said. “A lot of the tactics being used by ICE in these raids are really to terrorize and traumatize these people,” said Appleby. “It’s understandable that there might be some ICE agents that have reservations about how these raids are being conducted.”

In the interview yesterday, Bishop Tobin said, “I’d love to see our own congressional delegation support the call for a moratorium on raids. And I’d love to have the two presidential candidates at their conventions … say they would support [a moratorium on] immigration raids nationwide until we can solve this problem. I guess I’m dreaming to expect that would happen, but I think it’s a fair question.”

tmooney@projo.com