A group of 18 Catholic bishops issued a strong call for reforms to immigration enforcement just before President Trump's State of the Union address.
Eighteen Catholic bishops issued a strong call for reforms to immigration policy on February 24, hours before President Trump's first State of the Union address of his second term.
These bishops primarily represent border dioceses across the U.S. Southwest and California. Their statement included a kind of “wish list” of specific immigration policy changes that they believe “will help protect the human rights of immigrants and their families.”
These recommendations included the following eight specific points:
- The right to apply for asylum at the border should be honored.
- Sensitive locations should be protected (such as churches and schools).
- Immigration enforcement should not focus on those who are contributing to the nation.
- Immigrant families should be kept together.
- Due process should be restored in the immigration system.
- The use of tactics to intimidate and create fear in the community should be halted.
- Detention standards should be enforced and vulnerable groups should not be detained.
- Congress and the administration should fund reintegration programs for deportees.
They elaborated on each of these points in much greater detail in the statement. Each recommendation will support a more humane system, they wrote:
While we acknowledge the right and duty of a sovereign nation to enforce its laws, we also believe that those laws should be upheld in a manner that protects the God-given human dignity and rights of the human person.
Broken system
The bishops are among the many voices calling for comprehensive immigration reform. A broad coalition of lawmakers, faith leaders, and others have argued for decades that the system is broken and backlogged.
The bishops’ statement spoke of this longstanding concern and of the broad support for reform:
As the US Catholic bishops and many across the country have advocated for decades, Congress should repair the US immigration system by placing hard-working immigrants and their families on a path to citizenship and by improving access to the legal immigration system. As was stated in a Special Message in November of last year, the US bishops oppose “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people” and believe it is detrimental to the human rights of our fellow human beings and not in the best interest of the nation.
As Congress and the administration deliberate changes to how immigration enforcement is conducted across the nation, we urge them to consider these recommendations. As always, we stand ready to work with them to create an immigration system which ensures public safety, protects human rights, encourages economic growth and justice, and upholds our heritage as a nation of immigrants.
Their statement comes amid ongoing concerns about detention standards and immigration enforcement tactics on the one hand, and border security and safety on the other.
