By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
As more than 100 persons gathered to celebrate the opening of the new regional office of Catholic Charities on Friday, one Del Rioan protested, saying the organization encourages illegal immigration.
Local conservative activist Bea Vallejo protested by parking her truck about a half-block from Catholic Charities’ new office on Miers Street in north Del Rio during the grand opening celebration on Friday. A hand-painted sign on her truck window read, “Why? Support I.A.F.”
As she spoke to the 830 Times about her single-person protest, she gestured at a large charter bus driving past.
“That bus. That’s why I’m protesting,” Vallejo said.
“Catholic Charities is the top NGO (non-governmental organization) bringing in the illegal immigrants, the ones that are invading our border. That’s what I’m protesting,” she added.
She also said Catholic Charities “supports the IAF, which is the Industrial Areas Foundation, which is the Border Organization in Del Rio and COPS in San Antonio.”
Vallejo said she is protesting what she claims is Catholic Charities’ political activism.
“The other thing that I’m protesting is the fact that they promote political candidates, when they’re not supposed to. In the 2020 elections, they promoted a lady from San Antonio who was a Democratic candidate in San Antonio, and so, if they are Catholic, and they are going to promote Democratic candidates – or Republican candidates, it doesn’t matter – but if they promote Democratic candidates, then they are promoting the Democratic agenda, and therefore, they go against pro-life, they go against open borders. They want open borders.
“They want different things. They follow the Democratic agenda, whether or not you accept it or not, it doesn’t matter. The fact of the matter is that candidate, their leaders are going to follow that agenda. When we support our local Democratic leaders here in Del Rio, we say, ‘Oh we know them. We know they’re not for abortion,’ but that’s not the case. The case is that the leadership is going to follow that agenda,” Vallejo explained.
Vallejo said a local parish priest reached out to her and provided her with a packet of information about Catholic Charities’ mission here and elsewhere in south Texas.
“Feel the quality (of the packet’s paper). If you’re going to try and sell something to me, and I’m talking firsthand experience, I’ve worked with the illegals. I’ve worked bringing some of the illegals, and I know exactly what they do, not just Catholic Charities, but Methodist charities, Baptist charities, UNICEF, they all get money to bring illegals into the country. They call them refugees; that’s fine. They call them people who are seeking amnesty; that’s fine. You’re going out there to select people to come here, and that’s the basis of my protest,” Vallejo said.
“It’s too much,” she added.
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