Boston Archdiocese asks priests with visas to avoid trips outside the US.

Boston’s archdiocese (United States) has asked Catholic priests who are in the country using visas that avoid traveling abroad, due to Migration policies and deportations of the administration of Donald Trump.

“As many of you will know, recent changes in US government policies have significant Boston Globe.

“Although none of our priests have faced significant problems to date,” said Fr. Soper, “we cannot predict whether challenges or when.”

It is not clear to what “recent changes in policies” refers to the letter. The United States government has implemented aggressive immigration policies since President Donald Trump assumed the position in January, mainly related to the planned deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants and the strengthening of border policies.

Fr. SOPER indicated that the Archdiocese is “advising those of you who have visas or documents of employment authorization (EAD) and currently serve in official assignments, which they consider to refrain from traveling internationally until new notice.”

“Our main concern is to minimize the risk that some of our priests cannot re -enter the United States due to unforeseen circumstances, where we would not be in a position to help them.”

The priest wrote that he understood that the clergy could not completely give up the trips, especially after the displacements abroad for the funeral of Pope Francis, but asked to “avoid them whenever possible” and alert him of any international trip.

He also requested that “any priest who is currently traveling outside the United States and is not a American citizen” notifies the office of the Archdiocese “with details of his location and travel plans.”

Terrence Donilon, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston, told the Globe that this request does not reflect the vision of the Archdiocese on the United States government and should not be taken as a criticism, but is destined “to provide a practical and proactive orientation given the recent changes in policies.”

Father Soper said that the plan is subject to changes as they know “more in the coming months”, but the archdiocese wanted priests to be aware, since many of them travel abroad to see their families or to serve in parishes, schools and ministries.

Catholic activists have been warning for months On an imminent crisis in which many priests based in the United States could be forced to leave their ministries and return to their countries of origin, after which they would be subject to long waiting times before returning, due to changes in the visa laws of the United States. It is not clear if the problem of the visas is related to the letter of the Archdiocese of Boston.

In April, a group of American senators presented the draft Law on the Protection of the Religious Work Forcewhich would allow some immigrants to “remain in the US while waiting for permanent residence,” potentially addressing that problem.

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