BALTIMORE – While Bishop Mark Seitz has said that he doesn’t want to “get ahead” of President-elect Donald Trump in criticizing potential immigration policies, he has also acknowledged an increased level of concern for the undocumented immigrants already in the United States.
Trump has pledged mass deportations as part of a hardline approach to immigration.
Bishop Seitz, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Migration, recently said the conference will “raise [its voice loudly]” if that comes to fruition.
However, he told The Tablet that worry among undocumented immigrants is already heightened.
“Their level of fear and insecurity has been raised a great deal even before new policies come into play,” Bishop Seitz told The Tablet. “The Biden administration’s actions primarily affected those who were in the sending countries or en route, but the new administration will also focus on people who are already here.”
He added there are feelings of insecurity among migrants right now because they sense they are in danger of having their families divided or “being sent back to a place they don’t even know because they’ve grown up in the United States.”
Bishop Seitz, the bishop of El Paso, spoke with The Tablet during the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops fall general assembly in Baltimore from Nov. 12-14. Trump aside, Bishop Seitz noted the present immigration situation, inside and beyond the nation’s border, is of concern to the conference.
Bishop Seitz explained many immigrants are “fearful to stay” but also “fearful to leave” their home countries because the route to the United States has become so dangerous. He said he has heard from migrants and people working along the border that Mexico is now more perilous than any part of the 3,000-mile route from the northern part of South America.
Migrants are preyed upon at every point by both organized crime and security forces, he explained.
“These people are facing these militarized kind of responses. Already they’re in very difficult straits, and there are very few legal pathways for them to follow, especially when they’re already in a condition where they have to move,” Bishop Seitz said. “We’re very concerned about all of them.”
Bishop Seitz believes the U.S. bears some culpability in the situation outside the country because it has “outsourced its border actions to these countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, and Panama, and so on.” He added that as lawmakers at every level consider immigration policies going forward, they need to consider the actual human impact the policies will have.
Bishop Seitz noted that too often, modern political discourse talks about policies in abstract ways and, therefore, often ignores the real impact a policy could have on human beings. He said that good policies consider the likely impact they will have, as well as the intended and unintended consequences that might come.
“[Policy] has to be rooted in real human beings,” he said, “and for us Christians, it has to be rooted in the teachings of Christ. Sorry. No exceptions.
“We have to root what we do in the teaching of Jesus Christ. Otherwise, it is not good human action and not good policy.”
Bishop Seitz was installed as the bishop of El Paso in 2013, which means he has worked with local, state, and federal officials on immigration through former President Barack Obama’s second term, Trump’s first term, and President Joe Biden’s current term that concludes in January. He also worked with the Biden administration — even meeting with the president in 2023 — in a more national capacity after taking over as the head of the USCCB Committee on Migration in 2022.
Over time, Bishop Seitz said he has realized that no matter the administration, the Church brings to the conversation a perspective others can’t, considering they’re motivated solely by their sincerely held religious beliefs. He said that it allows them to “transcend the political chaos and in-fighting,” which they will continue to do under the second iteration of the Trump administration.
“We’re not going to just be some shrill voice adding to the fray,” Bishop Seitz said. “We’re going to be talking to people and trusting that the ones we’re talking to, even if they have a different view, will be able to recognize the reason behind what we’re saying and to come to a deeper appreciation of the impact of our positions, as well.”
The Church also, he added, has an important perspective because it works at the ground level.
“We are present. We’re at … the grassroots level, in the lives of people,” Bishop Seitz explained. “Not only do we have the support of the teachings and actions of the Church throughout the world, but we’re there.
“And that means beyond our country’s borders, so we can share the impact of proposed policies in a way that others couldn’t begin to.”
