Dear Editor: As a person of faith who believes in the basic human dignity of all people, especially the most vulnerable among us, I am appalled by the recent reports of the cruel, racist, inhumane treatment of migrant children held in U.S. custody.

As Catholics, we must not be silent as a morally bankrupt U.S. immigration policy that separates children from their parents and then cages them in unsafe, unsanitary conditions, sleeping on cement floors. Cruelty is the explicit intent expected to deter the desperate. The Statue of Liberty weeps. A majority of these children have a parent or other relative in the U.S. with whom they could be reunited instead of spending money to enrich the prison system.

If we seriously hope to stem the flow of immigrants at the border, we should address what makes life dangerous and intolerable for them, including our support for the repressive governments and the destructive economic policies in their home countries with which we have been complicit for decades. As Catholics, we can not and should not be silent.

Catholics should contact the President and their Congressional Representatives to stop such child abuse and remind officials that in our faith the ends do not justify the means.

Eileen Moran

Bayside