When a van dropped off 16 migrants at the Diocese of Sacramento’s pastoral center on Friday, June 2, staff responded as the Church routinely does in emergency situations — help first, ask questions later. The migrants were brought to a parish and eventually given a hotel room.
Pope Francis called the migration crisis between Mexico and the United States a “serious problem” and praised a U.S. bishop working along the border during an interview with Telemundo journalist Julio Vaqueiro.
The day after Title 42 expired, lifting pandemic public health restrictions that had limited border crossings into the United States, a group of bishops along the southwest U.S.-Mexico border said they “remain committed” to the Church’s efforts to welcome migrants.
With the U.S. House of Representatives set to vote on sweeping immigration legislation this week, the U.S. bishops’ conference migration committee chair has urged legislators to oppose it, deeming it incompatible with Catholic social teaching and the nation’s commitment to humanitarian protection.
The Biden administration announced April 27 new steps it would take in an effort to reduce migrant arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border when Title 42 expires in May.
With changes in U.S.-Mexico border policies on the horizon, Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso acknowledged on April 24 that uncertainty remains around what will happen, but a “significant” migration surge is likely, and help is welcome.
In response to Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s claim that migrants were “tricked” onto buses that shipped them from Texas to the nation’s capital, activist Abel Nuñez counters: “Whether they were tricked or not, they’re in your city, so what are you going to do about it?”
This week for Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller has been filled with hospital visits, Masses, and a lot of prayer for dozens of migrants who were found dead in an abandoned tractor trailer on the outskirts of San Antonio.
In the northern part of Donna, Maria Hernandez lives with her five children in a yellow mobile home. One of its shattered windows is boarded up; an air conditioner, propped up by a wooden pole, hangs from another. Among the items sitting on the ground outside are a broken toilet, a toddler’s car seat, and a mop.
Last Thursday, about 25 families exited a bus near a U.S.-Mexico border bridge near downtown El Paso. They had been flown in from south Texas, where they were apprehended after attempting to enter the country. Now, they faced expulsion into Ciudad Juarez, 800 miles from where they initially crossed.
