A group of Catholic leaders urged fellow Catholics in Congress to set aside “partisan bickering” and support the U.S. bishops’ efforts on behalf of a comprehensive immigration reform, calling it a sanctity of life issue and an important step in building a culture of life. “Our nation’s inhumane and flawed immigration policies leave migrant women, children and families abandoned by the side of the road,” the group said in a letter released on Jan. 20, two days before the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion. Among the more than 100 signers of the letter were the presidents of at least 31 Catholic universities, as well as bishops, men and women religious, former staff members at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the heads of various institutes and social action agencies. “As Cardinal Sean O’Malley put it in a homily at the U.S.-Mexico border last year: ‘We know that the border is lined with unmarked graves of thousands who die alone and nameless,’“ the letter said.

This article appears in February 9 2015.