The president of the American Bishops Committee on migration harshly criticized the executive orders of President Donald Trump about immigration, signed earlier this week, expressing special concern for families and vulnerable children.
“Church teaching recognizes the right and responsibility of a country to promote public order, security and protection through well -regulated borders and fair limits to immigration,” said Mons. Mark J. Seitz, Bishop of El Paso , Texas.
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:
“However, as shepherds, we cannot tolerate injustice and underline that the national interest does not justify policies with consequences contrary to moral law,” reads the statement.
When assuming the position on Monday, Trump signed a series of executive orders that included harsh immigration restrictions.
Shortly after his inauguration on Monday, the president signed orders that suspend the asylum for refugees, declare a national emergency on the southern border, restore the “stay in Mexico” policy of their previous mandate, designate the cartels of the Drugs as “foreign terrorist organizations” and put an end to citizens by birth.
The reaction of Mons. Seitz under the orders follows a statement by the President of the USCCB, Mons. Timothy Broglio, on Wednesday, who criticized Trump’s executive orders on immigration and other issues such as capital punishment, warning that damage could be done to “the most vulnerable among us”.
The bishop of El Paso continued in his statement, speaking against the use of “radical generalizations to denigrate any group, such as describing all undocumented immigrants as ‘criminals’ or ‘invaders’ to deprive them of protection under the law.” To do it, he wrote, “it is an affront to God, who has created each of us to their own image.”
In his inaugural speech, Trump said he would invoke the Law of Foreign Enemies of 1798 – used recently to internal Americans of Japanese origin during World War II – to expel any gang member, drug traffickers or cartels members who are found illegally in the United States.
Mons. Seitz applauded “the emphasis on the fight against trafficking in persons”, but condemned several of Trump’s executive orders that, according to him, “have as its specific objective dismantling the humanitarian protections enshrined in federal law” for families and Vulnerable children. He also censored the deployment of military assets to enforce Trump initiatives on the southern border, which he described as “especially worrying.”
To deny migrants access to asylum and other protections, said the bishop, would endanger vulnerable refuge applicants “while empowering gangs and other predators to exploit them.”
“We urge President Trump to abandon these policies to comply with the law and adopt fair and merciful solutions, working in good faith with the members of the Congress to achieve a significant and bipartisan immigration reform that promotes the common good with an effective immigration system and Ordered, ”said Mons. Seitz, and concluded:” My bishops and I will support this in any way we can while we continue to accompany our immigrant brothers and sisters according to the Gospel of Life. “
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.
Low Elhabbal
Madalaine Elhabbal is a CNA journalist based in the Washington DC office in EWTN. He has published articles in Catholicvote and has also worked as a foreign language assistant in France. She is a graduate of Benedictine College.