After Donald Trump’s government achieved the effective control of the border, the archbishop of Miami, Mons. Thomas Wenski, has urged the president and the Congress to expand the legal roads so that undocumented migrants who have not committed other crimes obtain citizenship.
In one declaration y interview With Archdiocesan media, Mons. Wenski said that the United States “faces labor shortage in many sectors, such as health, services and agriculture. Experting immigrant workers will only aggravate this shortage.”
Receive the main news of ACI Press by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social networks. Subscribe to our free channels today:
“Instead of spending billions in deporting people who already contribute positively to the welfare of our nation, it would be more sensible from the financial point of view and more acceptable from the moral point of view than Congress, in collaboration with the Government, it extends the legal means so that migrants without criminal records can obtain a permanent legal status,” said Mons. Wenski.
In an interview with The Catholic voicethe archbishop said that “what makes it cruel at this time is the arbitrariness of this attempt to deport people who have already made a fortune here, people who have dedicated their effort and effort to stay.”
“If the United States government has allowed them to stay for 10 or 20 years, imagine that many have children who are US citizens, have their own houses or have established businesses,” said Mons. Wenski. “Simply say that ‘return home’, when there is no home there, and their home is here, that is what makes it cruel.”
The prelate also echoed the concerns of Obispo de Venice, Mons. Frank Dewaneon the new detention center known as “Aligator Alcatraz”, located in this Diocese of Florida.
The archbishop of Miami indicated that “since the opening of this detention center, the archdiocese has requested access to provide religious services.”
He indicated that the deacon Edgardo Farías, director of the Archdiocesan Penitentiary Ministry, visited the place to ask when they could celebrate the Mass, but informed him that the situation of the mosquitoes was very serious and that he returned later.
“We want to ensure that chaplains and pastoral agents can serve the detainees, for their own benefit and that of the staff,” said Mons. Wenski. “We also express our concern for the isolation of the detention center, which is far from the medical care centers, and the precariousness of the temporal structures of ‘tents,” he added.
In the interview, Mons. Wenski said that if the deportations of the Trump administration are based on the application of current laws, then “laws must be modified” by Congress, which has the authority to “rewrite, adjust or correct the law.”
“The vast majority of those who are here without permanent status are honest and workers who simply want a future of hope for their children and their families,” added the archbishop.
Andrew Arthur, former immigration and current member of the Immigration Studies Center, told CNA – Ewtn News in English – that the proposal of Mons. Wenski to create a way towards citizens for undocumented immigrants is a form of “amnesty”, and pointed out that “it is one of those things that the Trump administration has ruled out.”
Arthur, Catholic, said that current legislation already contemplates the adaptations that the archbishop defends. For example, he indicated that people can appeal a deportation order claiming that their deportation would cause “extremely unusual difficulties” to their relatives who are US citizens.
He also argued that a way towards citizens would not solve the problems of labor shortage raised by Monski. “There are visas of immigrant and non -immigrant available to meet those work needs, but it is unlikely that allowing people to remain in the United States without documents meet those work needs,” Arthur argued.
Arthur also pointed out that the Customs Immigration and Control Service (ICE) meets the National Detention Standards Based on Performance. In his experience as an immigration judge, he said that immigration authorities have always “offered pastoral attention.”
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.
Tyler Arnold
Tyler Arnold is a reporter of the National Catholic Register. He previously worked at The Center Square and has published in various media, including The Associated Press, National Review, The American Conservative and The Federalist.