Catholic Leaders Push Back Against Trump’s Immigration Policies

The president’s emphasis on enforcement has been criticized by U.S. bishops, but they could be more supportive of his signals that he might promote comprehensive immigration reform.

A U.S. Office of Air and Marine (OAM) helicopter patrols near the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego, California.
A U.S. Office of Air and Marine (OAM) helicopter patrols near the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego, California. (photo: 2013 John Moore/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Catholic bishops are speaking out and immigration advocates are conducting “know your rights” workshops and offering other resources as President Donald Trump’s administration signals that it will be ramping up the federal government’s enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws.

Two memoranda issued Feb. 20 by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) indicate that the president is empowering federal immigration authorities and enlisting the aid of local law enforcement officers to find, arrest and deport those who are in the country illegally, whether or not they have committed serious crimes.

The documents also show the scope of the president’s vision by calling for new detention facilities, creating a new program to publicize crimes committed by people in the country without immigration documents, speeding up deportations and discouraging asylum seekers.

Catholic officials who work with migrants say the DHS memoranda, which implement the president’s executive orders on immigration, and the tone coming out of Washington are sending waves of panic and fear through migrant communities that families will be torn apart as mothers and fathers are caught up in the dragnet.

“I think these policies are making people afraid to engage in their daily life, things like going to school and going to church,” said Ashley Feasley, the director of migration policy and public affairs at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Feasley told the Register that the DHS documents appear to “radically expand” those whom the federal government will prioritize for deportation by indicating that anyone charged with any crime, no matter how serious, could be subject to removal proceedings.

“The bishops are extremely concerned with the fear they’re seeing in their communities by immigrants afraid to participate in daily life, afraid of family separation due to enforcement and deportation,” Feasley said. “They’re very much reaching out and trying to offer pastoral support and accompaniment in this time frame.”

Bishop Joe Vasquez of Austin, Texas — the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration — said in a Feb. 23 response to the DHS memoranda that the new policies needlessly endanger the vulnerable, militarize the U.S.-Mexico border and causes many other problems.

“Taken together, these memoranda constitute the establishment of a large-scale enforcement system that targets virtually all undocumented migrants as ‘priorities’ for deportation, thus prioritizing no one,” said Bishop Vasquez, who urged the Trump administration to reconsider its approach.

“Together, these have placed already vulnerable immigrants among us in an even greater state of vulnerability,” the bishop added.

Other bishops have also voiced similar concerns.

In his column for the diocesan newspaper, Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, said the Trump administration’s policies will do “very little” to resolve the nation’s immigration problems, nor improve security and safety for citizens.

“Mass deportation is a panacea: the appearance of an answer without really resolving anything,” Bishop Conley said.

 

Providing Information

Feasley said the bishops’ conference has been engaged in creating educational materials, in Spanish as well as English, which include online resources with brief videos to educate people on what their rights are, should they be encountered by immigration enforcement officers.

“We also have been working to create more materials to encourage undocumented migrants to prepare themselves and their families, things like having an important number you can call if you have been picked up, organizing a family plan if you have young children — so if an undocumented mother or father is apprehended, there is a plan in place for care of the children,” Feasley said.

Melissa Lopez, executive director of Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services in El Paso, Texas, told the Register that more people have been coming to her offices seeking immigration-related assistance, including wanting to apply for naturalization.

“People are obviously really scared. These new rules seem to include a lot more people,” said Lopez. She added that attorneys have been detained and harassed at the ports of entry in El Paso.

Federal immigration authorities arrested a woman who had gone to the courthouse in El Paso to get a protective order in a domestic-violence case.

“Immigration officials actually went and sat through her court hearing, then arrested her after court was over,” Lopez said. “That’s the kind of stuff that we’re seeing happen here that is really scaring people, rightfully scaring people.”

 

Support for Trump

However, Marguerite Telford, director of communications for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C. think tank that supports a stricter national immigration policy, told the Register that the DHS memoranda are only restoring the federal government’s commitment to enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.

“Trump has taken us back to the state of normal, back to what it used to be,” said Telford, who accused President Barack Obama’s administration of not enforcing immigration laws. Telford, who is Catholic, also criticized the bishops for their defense of immigrants in the country illegally.

Said Telford, “The Church has always been very clear that national sovereignty is appropriate and accepted within the Church, and yet now the bishops are telling us we need to welcome everyone, that we need to have a culture of welcome for everyone. Really?”

“It’s not the bishops’ job to tell me that as a Catholic I’m supposed to help these people avoid the law, that somehow they have a right to be here,” Telford added. “That just isn’t the role of the Church.”

At least one bishop would seem to be sympathetic to a harder line on immigration.

Bishop Bawai Soro, a Chaldean Catholic bishop who ministers in California, wrote in a San Diego newspaper column that he supports the president’s temporary ban on travel from seven Muslim-majority countries.

“Mr. Trump has no one to apologize to for his immigration doctrine for the simple reason that coming to America is not a right but a privilege, a privilege that is earned by waiting in line for however long it may take to reach America,” Bishop Soro wrote.

 

Immigration Reform

Even as Catholics wrangle over immigration policy and the DHS memoranda, Trump signaled a new openness to immigration reform. According to published reports, the president told television anchors on Feb. 28 that he is open to overhauling the nation’s immigration laws, even creating a path to legal status for nonviolent offenders, which would be a significant departure from his previous rhetoric, by embracing an idea that has been previously labeled “amnesty” by critics.

But then in his Feb. 28 address to a joint session of Congress, Trump returned to a tough-on-immigration theme, vowing to build his promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. He also referenced people attending the address whose loved ones had been killed by individuals in the country illegally.

Said Trump, “To any in Congress who do not believe we should enforce our laws, I would ask you this one question: What would you say to the American family that loses their jobs, their income, or their loved one because America refused to uphold its laws and defend its borders?”

In prepared comments provided to the Register, Jeanne Atkinson, executive director of Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (Clinic), said churches around the country are trying to figure out how best to serve immigrants in their communities. She added that her organization is trying to provide them with know-your-rights materials, which include information about how to make a plan in case someone in the family is deported.

“Besides the kind of public and parish resources mentioned … Clinic is increasing our training for legal advocates and attorneys to represent the many more immigrants who will be facing deportation,” Atkinson said. “We are encouraging our affiliates to conduct legal screenings, to help people figure out if they might be eligible for some kind of legal status they didn’t realize applied to them.”

 

‘Humane, Commonsense Implementation’

Feasley, of the bishops’ conference, said the bishops have long respected the rights of nations to regulate and secure their borders and to ensure public safety.

“At the same time, the controls for regulating the borders need to be just and humane, and targeting families who are living here peacefully, who have worked to integrate into our communities, who have U.S.-citizen children — I don’t think is just or humane,” said Feasley, who added that authorities should be targeting violent felons and individuals who are known risks to national security.

Said Feasley, “There is respect for the laws of this nation, but at the same time, there is a desire to see a humane implementation, and a commonsense implementation, of enforcement and security measures.”

Register correspondent Brian Fraga writes from Fall River, Massachusetts.