As the bishop of El Paso, I am often asked to offer my view of the current situation at the border. In addressing that important issue, I try to bring light on some deeper issues that I believe are at stake in the contemporary debate on immigration in our country and are urgent for our consideration.
Immigration
Posted inNews
Deportations surge, aid collapses and Catholic groups in Latin America struggle to respond
The staff of Jesuit Refugee Service Mexico has shrunk from 70 to 28 people in the past year because of U.S. federal funding cuts to humanitarian aid, leaving the group struggling to meet the growing needs of deportees.
Posted inNews
‘It’s a business’: San Antonio archbishop on the profit-driven, inhumane migrant crackdown
“The government needs to use what they have in the budget for this crackdown on immigration,” Archbishop García-Siller said. “That is a huge amount of money.”
Posted inShort Take
Opposing ICE actions against migrants—without dehumanizing ICE agents
I help immigrants file complaints about ICE abuse, but I’ve become increasingly uneasy as I watch protestors employ the tools of the oppressor: mockery and dehumanization.
Posted inNews
US cardinals and pope’s ambassador decry mass deportations in Minnesota
“I’m very proud, personally, to see our church, you know, be on the side of those who suffer,” Cardinal Pierre said, adding that Pope Leo XIV agreed with the U.S. bishops’ support of migrants.
Posted inOf Many Things
The immigration stories Trump told in the State of the Union—and the ones he didn’t
Throughout his nearly two-hour address, Trump highlighted victims of crimes committed by immigrants. But there are parts of the stories he does not bother to tell.
Posted inCatholic Book Club
Catholics speak out on the violence against migrants. Will politicians listen?
Perhaps our politicians do not pay attention to academic conferences; perhaps they do not pay attention to bishops. But it is heartening and a sign of hope that our church still speaks for those who face this violence every day.
Posted inDispatches
U.S. border bishops urge change on deportations ahead of Trump SOTU address
A group of 18 Catholic bishops and archbishops, primarily from border dioceses, repeated a long-standing endorsement of comprehensive immigration reform hours ahead of President Trump’s State of the Union address.
Posted inNews
ICE ‘mega centers’ for mass detention ‘challenge the conscience,’ says USCCB bishop
“The thought of holding thousands of families in massive warehouses should challenge the conscience of every American. Whatever their immigration status, these are human beings created in the image and likeness of God, and this is a moral inflection point for our country.”
Posted inNews
Cardinal Dolan: Vance ‘apologized’ for ‘out of line’ comments about US bishops and immigration
“When he (Vance) suggested that bishops in the United States were pro-immigrant because we were making money which was not only untrue, it was scurrilous—and he apologized,” said Cardinal Dolan. “He says, ‘That was out of line and that’s not true.’”