“Before the challenges of contemporary movements of migration, the only reasonable response is one of solidarity and mercy,” Pope Francis said as he celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on July 6 for migrants and refugees.

During a news conference after the second and last day of their visit to the border, the bishops stressed the "urgent" need to do something to help migrant children separated from their families.

A Guatemalan mother who was separated from her three children at the U.S.-Mexico border is at a New York City social services center to reunite with them.

The bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States have for weeks expressed outrage and condemned the government's recent practice of separating children from a parent or a family member if they're caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without legal documentation.

A group of bishops, including the head of the U.S. bishops conference, will visit the border early next week.

The proposal, which had been called a "compromise" bill by Republicans, would have provided some respite to youth brought to the country illegally as minors, as well as some $25 million in funding for part of a wall along the border with Mexico.