Bishop says Trump’s efforts against immigrants ‘strikes
fear’ in border communities
By Crux
Staff
Jan 22, 2025
|Author
President Donald Trump
signs executive orders in Washington, DC, on Jan 20, 2025. (Credit: Associated
Press.)
President Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented
immigrants in the United States has raised “urgent moral and human concerns,”
according to Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a statement
on Tuesday saying it is empowering federal agencies to “enforce our immigration
laws and catch criminal aliens—including murders and rapists—who have illegally
come into our country.”
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s
schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the
hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common
sense,” the statement says.
“The Biden-Harris Administration abused the humanitarian
parole program to indiscriminately allow 1.5 million migrants to enter our
country. This was all stopped on day one of the Trump Administration. This action
will return the humanitarian parole program to its original purpose of looking
at migrants on a case-by-case basis,” the DHS continues.
In his own statement, Seitz – whose Texas diocese sits on
the border with Mexico – said he is “already seeing many drastic actions from
the federal government related to immigration that deeply affect our local
community and raise urgent moral and human concerns.”
“The end of the Department of Homeland Security’s sensitive
locations policy strikes fear into the heart of our community, cynically
layering a blanket of anxiety on families when they are worshiping God, seeking
healthcare and dropping off and picking up children at school,” the bishop
says.
“We have also seen the rapid and indiscriminate closure of
the border to asylum seekers and the return of the ill-conceived Remain in
Mexico policy, violating due process and restricting the few legal options
available to the most vulnerable who knock on our door seeking compassion and
aid,” Seitz continued.
The Remain in Mexico policy was established in 2019 during
Trump’s first administration, and requires migrants seeking asylum in the
United States to remain in Mexico until their U.S. immigration court date.
“I direct my words to our local immigrant community.
Whatever your faith and wherever you come from, we make your anxieties and
fears at this moment our own. We stand with you in this moment of family and
personal crisis and pledge to you our solidarity, trusting that the Lord, Jesus
Christ, will bring about good even from this moment of pain, and that this time
of trial will be just a prelude to real reform, a reconciled society and
justice for all those who are forced to migrate,” the bishop says.
“In response, the Diocese of El Paso will continue to educate
our faithful on their rights, provide legal services and work with our
community leaders to mitigate the damage of indiscriminate immigration
enforcement. Through our Border Refugee Assistance Fund, in partnership with
the Hope Border Institute, we are preparing to channel additional humanitarian
aid to migrants stranded in our sister city of Ciudad Juarez,” Seitz says.
Juarez is the Mexican city across the border from El Paso.
Although Trump has been supported by Catholics for his
policies on abortion and religious freedom, U.S. bishops have criticized him
for his strong efforts to remove undocumented residents from the country.
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