At the tender age of nine, Christopher Ochoa, who is of Mexican descent, not only knows that a deportation proceeding means that someone must leave the country and cannot come back for a long time, but he's also aware that it separates parents and children without regard for the fact that the children were born in the United States.

These and other immigration concerns were addressed yesterday in a conference at St. Jerome Church in the Bronx called by religious leaders of various faiths, who demanded a halt to the arrests and deportations.

Surrounded by children from several parishes and community programs from the five boroughs, the religious leaders explained the importance of supporting and campaigning for a proposed law called the Child Citizen Protection Act (H.R. 1176), which would allow courts to hear from children born in the United States before the authorities decide on the deportation of their parents, thus giving a judge the power to decide whether the deportation of a guardian or parent would or would not be in the best interests of the U.S.-born child.

“Many of these children's parents are in the process of being deported, and they have no practical way to appeal, because our legislation makes deportation a mandatory punishment. A judge cannot decide whether this punishment is just for the rest of the family that remains in the United States,” said Aarti Shahari of Families for Freedom.

The religious leaders, among whom were the Reverend John Grange, Rabbi Michael Feinberg, and Shavkh Bashir of the Muslim congregation House of Peace, emphasized that in spite of supporting a comprehensive reform, they are lobbying for HR 1176 because it is “the only legal entity that takes into account the reality of families.”

Although the parents of young Ochoa do not have immigration problems, the boy said he is “worried” because he has friends whose parents have been deported and “that's very sad.”

“We know what deportation means; it's when someone doesn't have papers and gets expelled, and I'm scared this could happen to someone I love,” said the boy.

Throughout the weekend Catholic priests, in the spirit of Good Friday, passed out postcards with the faces of several children and a legend urging support for HR 1176, which was introduced this year by Congressman José Serrano (D-NY). The address on the other side of the postcards is the same one: the Congress of the United States.