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Springfield Dominican Sisters Travel To U.S.-Mexico Border, Help Asylum Seekers

A group of  Springfield Dominican Sisters traveled to El Paso, Texas to volunteer at a Catholic shelter for asylum seekers. The shelter -- called Annunciation House -- receives migrants and their families after they've been released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officials. 

 

Springfield Dominican Sisters, Anita Cleary, Marcelline Koch and two colleagues, Kathryn Raistrick and Julie Wullner, spent Nov. 13-19, 2018 at the shelter sorting through clothes and helping with day-to-day activities. 

 

“All of the refugees coming to Annunciation House are families and individuals that Immigration did not place in one of their detention facilities. The vast majority of refugees released are parents with one or two children," said Sister Marcelline. She said she took part in the one-week trip as an opportunity to do more than just advocacy work. 

 

Sister Marcelline spoke to us from El Paso on the group's fourth day volunteering. 

 

At the completion of her service in El Paso, Sister Marcelline wrote about her experience here

 

 

 

Daisy reported on statehouse issues for our Illinois Issues project. She's a Public Affairs Reporting program graduate from the University of Illinois Springfield. She also graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and has an associates degrees from Truman College. Daisy is from Chicago where she attended Lane Tech High School.
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