Eight-year-old Zuanny arranges luminaries with messages about her mother, a DACA “Dreamer,” herself and her sisters during a vigil at La Colaborativa in Chelsea, Mass., Oct. 10 for the community affected by raids and detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
By Dan Russo
The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ decision to approve a “special pastoral message on immigration” recently voicing “our concern here for immigrants” at their annual fall plenary assembly provoked a cornucopia of strong reactions nationwide.
The Nov. 12 statement passed with 216 bishops in favor, 5 against, and 3 abstentions. Days after taking part in the voting, Bishop Dennis Walsh, had returned to the Davenport Diocese and was ready to offer his perspective.
“My sense is that bishops, for the most part are expressing frustration about the actions the administration is taking regarding migrants and immigrants,” said Bishop Walsh Nov. 17. “I think it’s the arbitrary detention of individuals, the deprivation of rights that are a concern. No one is saying that the government cannot enforce the law. However, everyone is entitled to respect for dignity and also due process. I think filling people with fear — fear for their families of being deported and afraid to go to school, fear of separation of families; it is against human dignity to instill such fear in people. Yes, the government has a right to enforce the law. They have a right to regulate migration, but they don’t have a right to violate the rights of due process and human dignity.”
According to a USCCB news release issued with the text of the statement, the bishops’ special message “marked the first time” in 12 years the bishops’ conference “invoked this particularly urgent way of speaking as a body of bishops.” The last time was in 2013, when the U.S. bishops issued their response to the federal government’s contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, stating, “we bishops stand united in our resolve to resist this heavy burden and protect our religious freedom.”
In the latest message, the U.S. Bishops focused on the increase in immigration enforcement across the nation under the Trump administration and cautioned against the “vilification” of immigrants.
“We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care,” reads the bishops’ statement. “We lament that some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status. We are troubled by threats against the sanctity of houses of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools. We are grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school and when we try to console family members who have already been separated from their loved ones.”
“Despite obstacles and prejudices, generations of immigrants have made enormous contributions to the well-being of our nation,” the bishops wrote. “We as Catholic bishops love our country and pray for its peace and prosperity. For this very reason, we feel compelled now in this environment to raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity.”
In the Diocese of Davenport, the controversy over enforcement and due process played out recently through the case of Pascual Pedro Pedro, who was deported July 7. The 20-year-old Guatemala native and West Liberty High School graduate worked construction with his grandfather. His immigration attorney said the young man did not have a criminal record. However, he had an order for expedited removal from the time he entered the country illegally at age 13 with his father.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities detained Pedro Pedro after his annual check-in July 1 and deported him to Guatemala just hours after a prayer service at the West Liberty parish at which Bishop Walsh presided.
“While there was an expedited order of removal for him, the government, at the same time, also offered him a valid work permit so that he could work,” said Bishop Walsh. “And he was faithfully reporting for his check-ins with immigration authorities every month. He was very far from being a dangerous criminal.”
Bishop Walsh said during the discussion in Baltimore before the vote on the statement, “concern over a lack of due process” was a key issue.
“Not everybody here is a criminal,” said the bishop. “Some people here are requesting asylum. They have a right to a hearing. It’s part of the law. That should not be taken away from anyone. The Hispanic community — some here legally, some maybe without documents, the Church supports them and we stand with them. I think what the rest of the Catholic community of Iowa needs to understand … Migration is a human right and yes, the government has a right to regulate it but they don’t have the right to stop it. I think people need to know that that is authentic Church teaching. That is not just the opinion of the previous pope or the current pope, but it is authentic teaching of the Church.”
The USCCB statement did not name President Donald Trump, but it came as a growing number of bishops have acknowledged that some of the Trump administration’s immigration policies risk presenting the Church with both practical challenges in administering pastoral support and charitable endeavors, as well as religious liberty challenges. The White House “border czar” Tom Homan reacted to the statement by U.S. Catholic bishops Nov. 14, calling them “wrong.”
“A secure border saves lives,” said Homan, who is Catholic. “We’re going to enforce the law and by doing that we save a lot of lives.”
In their statement, U.S. Bishops said they believe it is possible to achieve a balance between the priorities of national security and welcoming immigrants.
“We bishops advocate for a meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws and procedures,” they wrote. “Human dignity and national security are not in conflict. Both are possible if people of good will work together.”
Father Rudolph Juarez, vicar for Hispanic Ministry for the Davenport Diocese, called the statement “prophetic.”
“I find it encouraging and inspirational that the bishops of the United States in accord with the Holy Father have made this prophetic statement on immigration,” said Father Juarez. “I believe that the bishops are on the right side of history to stand in defense of the least and most vulnerable persons in our society at a time when guilded palaces and billionaires are in such favor. The bishops remind Catholics and all people of good will that created in the image of God, all persons, no matter their immigration status or station in life have innate human dignity and therefore, worthy and deserving of our respect.”
(Kate Scanlon and OSV News contributed to the story.)
To read the bishops’ entire statement, visit:
