Bishops across US defend migrants, calling for immigration reform in 'justice and mercy'

(OSV News) -- The United States is a "nation with a proud legacy of welcome to immigrants" that also "needs secure, safe, sturdy borders," said Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York.

But in a video message released Jan. 28 through The Good Newsroom, the media platform of the Archdiocese of New York, the cardinal declared the Catholic Church "should not be blasted for simply obeying the Bible and caring for those immigrants" who have entered the country through its "clumsy, fractured" immigration system.

The cardinal -- a successor to New York Archbishop "Dagger John" Hughes, the 19th-century defender of Irish Catholic immigrants who laid the cornerstone of today's St. Patrick's Cathedral -- is among the many U.S. prelates to weigh in on sweeping changes newly inaugurated President Donald Trump has made in recent days to the nation's immigration policies.

Trump administration officials sparred with Catholic organizations after pushback on some of their immigration policies.

In her debut press briefing as White House press secretary Jan. 28, Karoline Leavitt suggested the Trump administration would strip federal funds from Catholic Charities. The comments came two days after Vice President JD Vance questioned the motives of the U.S. bishops' criticism of the new immigration policies in a Jan. 26 interview -- including raids on churches and schools -- suggesting the bishops are actually concerned about receiving federal resettlement funding and "their bottom line."

Fulfilling campaign pledges to tighten border security and ensure mass deportations of unauthorized migrants, Trump issued a slew of executive orders following his Jan. 20 inauguration. Refugee travel to the U.S. has been canceled; policies preventing immigration arrests at houses of worship, schools and other "sensitive locations" have been scrapped; and a program enabling private U.S. citizens to sponsor refugees has been halted. Some 1,600 U.S. troops have also been dispatched to the U.S.-Mexico border to assist with immigration enforcement.

Trump also ordered an end to the 14th Amendment's provision for birthright citizenship, effective Feb. 19 -- although that action has since been temporarily blocked by a federal judge in Seattle, who described the move as "blatantly unconstitutional."

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, who is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a Jan. 22 statement that some of Trump's executive orders "focused on the treatment of immigrants and refugees" are "deeply troubling and will have negative consequences."

Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, chair of the USCCB's Committee on Migration, issued multiple statements, warning some of the executive orders seek to "eviscerate humanitarian protections enshrined in federal law and undermine due process, subjecting vulnerable families and children to grave danger" and that immigration enforcement could only be carried out morally "in a targeted, proportional, and humane way."

Catholic social teaching on immigration balances three interrelated principles -- the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain their lives and those of their families, the right of a country to regulate its borders and control immigration, and a nation's duty to regulate its borders with justice and mercy.

Referencing this teaching, the Colorado Catholic bishops issued a statement condemning an "open borders policy" while temporary or permanent legal immigration "takes years and is expensive."

"This is not conducive for families who need to migrate quickly to sustain their lives or the lives of their families," they said.

The bishops also stressed, "Mass deportation is not the solution to our present situation in the United States, especially when it may separate parents and children."

A reference point for that teaching can be found in the Second Vatican Council's teaching in "Gaudium et Spes" -- reaffirmed verbatim in two encyclicals on truth and the dignity of human life by St. John Paul II -- that names deportation ("deportatio") along with abortion in a list of specific acts offensive to human life and dignity. The council teaches they "are a disgrace, and so long as they infect human civilization they contaminate those who inflict them more than those who suffer injustice, and they are a negation of the honor due to the Creator."

Catholic bishops' conferences from several states -- among them Texas, Maryland and Michigan -- have also issued statements on the immigration changes, assuring immigrants of their solidarity and pastoral concern. They called upon the new administration to address the immigration crisis with a focus on human dignity, root causes of migration and the need to fix the nation's troubled immigration legal system.

The Texas bishops emphasized their support of the USCCB's statements, and underscored the importance of the government respecting the life of the church.

"In exercising the basic human right of religious liberty, all Catholics, regardless of national origin or citizenship status, have a right to gather for the celebration of Mass and to receive the Sacraments without harassment or intimidation," they said.

Maryland's bishops committed to advocating for policies that protect migrants' rights and dignity, while also declaring the church's "parishes, schools, and ministries are here for you, offering spaces where you can find community and grow in faith."

Michigan's bishops pleaded with elected officials "to support policies that keep immigrant and undocumented families safe and united, and to protect those who arrived as children."

Like Cardinal Dolan, other U.S. bishops have also spoken out individually as well, pledging the church's firm solidarity with immigrants while also calling on the nation's leaders to make a deal on immigration within moral parameters.

In a Jan. 21 statement, Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, said that he felt "a profound obligation to speak on behalf of immigrants," particularly those whose countries of origins are in dire straits, and called for "a bipartisan effort to enact immigration reform that honors both citizens and immigrants, addressing the intricate issues at hand."

Likewise, in a Jan. 24 letter to the faithful of northwest Iowa, Bishop R. Walker Nickless of Sioux City, said the Catholic Church stands "ready to work with our national leaders on responsible immigration reform, including smart border security, (and) pathways to lawfully being present in our country and towards citizenship."

But he also said the church and the nation had a "duty" from Jesus Christ, defined in Scripture, to "value each and every person created by our loving God and give them the dignity they deserve as sons and daughters of God our Father."

He said, "All of this must be done in justice and mercy."