Catholics working with migrants have mobilized to assist Venezuelans who are arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in record numbers but are being expelled back to Mexico under pandemic-era health restrictions.
Title 42
Advocates Worry Anti-Immigrant Provisions Will Make Way Into Spending Bill
Faith-based groups are voicing worries that lawmakers will extend already existing provisions to further prevent immigrants from entering the U.S. as legislators haggle over what will be included in a historic $260 billion spending bill focused on health care and the environment.
Federal Judge Orders Title 42 Measure Must Remain in Place at Border
The much-anticipated May 23 deadline on Title 42 came and went at the U.S.-Mexico border without any changes allowing migrants in, including asylum-seekers, after a federal judge blocked the government from lifting the health measure instituted during the pandemic.
Haitians Head to Mexico-U.S. Border; Church Seeks Humanitarian Help
A Mexican border diocese has issued an urgent appeal for assistance as hundreds of Haitian migrants arrive in the oft-violent city of Nuevo Laredo, hoping to apply for asylum in the United States.
Judge Threatens to Block Biden’s Plan to End Pandemic Border Restriction
A federal judge at an April 25 hearing said he would grant the requests of three states to force the federal government to keep in place a public-health order at the U.S.-Mexico border that has increased the number of expulsions of immigrants trying to cross into the United States.
Texas Migrants Bound For Capital Need More Help: Catholic Charities
Catholic Charities DC is trying to give a “welcoming, Christ-like response” to migrants arriving in the nation’s capital on buses from Texas, but the head of the organization says there are concerns about a lack of leadership and assistance from the government, and what will happen if the buses arrive through the summer.
Immigration Advocates Praise Decision to End Title 42 Border Policy
When Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso got the news that the federal government will soon terminate Title 42, a controversial border policy, he said he began “thanking God.”
Government to Lift Health Measure That Blocks Entrance of Asylum-Seekers
News reports say the Biden administration may lift a public health measure in May that was put in place at the start of the coronavirus pandemic that has kept asylum-seekers out.
U.S. Bishops Cheered By One Migration Ruling, Dismayed by Another
The current and incoming leaders on migration for the U.S. bishops expressed cautious optimism about a recent court decision mandating that migrants can’t be expelled to “places where they’ll be persecuted or tortured,” but dismay over another striking down protections for unaccompanied minors from immediate expulsion.
Efforts by Church Organizations at Border are Simply Humanitarian
Recently, the border situation in Texas has prompted a number of lawsuits against the Diocese of Brownsville and its Catholic Charities.