Bishops of Puerto Rico oppose raids and deportations of US immigration authorities.

While the United States immigration and customs control service (ICE) increases its raids and deportations; Several bishops in Puerto Rico have expressed their alarm and reminded Catholics their duty to welcome and protect those in need.

During one Press Conference on June 11 At the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, the Bishop of Mayagüez, Mons. Ángel Luis Ríos Matos, said he issued orders to the parishes of his diocese of not providing information to federal agents “unless he is backed by a court order.”

However, he added, “even with a court order, when it comes to justice for the poor, superior justice prevails.”

“If you have to pay consequences, they will be paid. I do not call it civil disobedience, but obedience to the doctrine of justice and charity. We must obey God before men,” said the prelate.

The Bishop’s statement was received with applause by those present, including the archbishop of San Juan, Mons. Roberto González Nieves, and the Bishop of Ponce, Mons. Rubén Antonio González Medina.

Since he assumed the position, US President Donald Trump has intensified efforts to deport unauthorized immigrants in the country. In Puerto Rico, American territory, many undocumented migrants come from the Dominican Republic.

The governor of Puerto Rico, Jenniffer González-Colón, a republican who supported Trump in the elections, said that Your government will not oppose deportationsincluding those carried out in churches and hospitals, because the island “cannot afford” to violate regulations and risk losing access to federal funds.

According to the Spanish newspaper The countrythe United States National Security Department (DHS) has arrested 445 people in Puerto Rico since the raids began on January 26.

While most are Dominican, the DHS said that several undocumented immigrants were from Haiti, Venezuela and Mexico.

Sandra Colón, spokesman for the DHS office, told El País that “81 people have been deported to their country through voluntary exit or accelerated expulsion.”

Deportations on the island motivated A statement From the bishop of Caguas, Mons. Eusebio Ramos Morales, who pointed out that deportations “although they are presented as legal, are unfair and immoral when they are executed mercilessly or respect for human dignity.”

“From our Island of Puerto Rico, many made us believe that these practices would not affect us directly. However, we have witnessed how immigration agents are paid impoverished and vulnerable communities, especially those of our Dominican brothers, whose contribution to the economic, social and cultural development of Puerto Rico is invaluable,” Ramos wrote.

The bishop also said that the increase in ICE raids has caused families to live with fear, children miss school, patients do not have access to medical care and “many do not have the ability to make a living with dignity.”

“This situation cries out to heaven,” he said.

At the June 11 press conference, Ríos also said that if agents “come to request information or detain people within the Church, the right of sanctuary, which is recognized worldwide and in the United States, prevails and protects the rights of the immigrant.”

However, in January, the Trump administration annulled the designation that categorized places of worship as “protected areas” safe from immigration authorities.

CNA, Ewtn News English agency, contacted Ríos on June 12 to ask if the federal authorities had tried to stop people in Diocesan churches. However, it was not available to comment.

According to the Trump Administration Directivechurches, mosques, synagogues and other religious institutions no longer have special protection, which gives federal agents greater amplitude to perform raids and arrests.

The policy was judicially challenged by 27 Christian and Jewish groups, who argued that the directive violated the rights of religious freedom protected by the Constitution. However, in April, the federal district judge Dabney Friedrich He ruled that the concerns of the groups lacked legal basis.

The government directive on protected areas, especially places of worship, represented only “a modest change in the internal orientation that the DHS is providing to its immigration officials and does not require carrying out compliance activities of the law during religious services or while providing ministries of social services,” said the ruling.

Meanwhile, in a Interview on local televisionthe special agent in charge of ICE National Security investigations for Puerto Rico, Rebecca González-Ramos, said that federal agents “would not enter churches, hospitals or schools” to seek undocumented migrants.

“We will not enter or separate family units either,” he said in a Interview with Telemundo on June 10.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA