WASHINGTON — The upcoming inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump has raised questions about the future of immigration reform, but the nation’s Catholic bishops remain hopeful.

“We also find it important that we engage the present incoming administration,” Bishop Joe Vasquez of Austin, Texas, who chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, said Jan. 12. “We think it is highly important that we as bishops make known what is taking place in our country and how to address those possibilities.”

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, the U.S. bishops’ conference president, also voiced confidence.

“I actually think this may be a very good time to pursue all the goals that we’ve had all along,” Cardinal DiNardo said. “This is a new moment, with a new Congress, a new administration. And, therefore, we should up our expectations and move very carefully, but clearly, on comprehensive immigration reform.”

Leading U.S. bishops and bishops’ conference officials spoke with reporters Jan. 12 to mark National Migration Week, a nearly 50-year-old celebration that encourages the Church to reflect on the situations facing immigrants, refugees, children and victims of human trafficking.

President-elect Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, campaigned on several strong anti-immigration policies, including talk of deportation, strict enforcement of immigration law and a famous promise to build a wall on the Mexico border and make Mexico pay for it.

Bishop Vasquez said that the rhetoric of wall-building is “not the place where we’d want to start our conversation on immigration.”

He said the bishops advocated humane policy and laws that take into consideration the need to keep families together and to help those who have come to the U.S. at a young age.

Cardinal DiNardo said the bishops’ concerns focus on immigration reform.

“As of right now, we haven’t (discussed) too much on the wall situation,” he said, voicing greater concern for the future of the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” (DACA) program, President Barack Obama’s executive action that allowed millions of immigrants who met certain standards to stay in the U.S. The program especially benefited those who had arrived in the U.S. without documentation while being under age 18.

Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, vice president of the bishops’ conference, said the conference is trying to have a conversation with Trump’s transition team.

“Obviously, we continue to help our elected officials to understand the issue,” he said, noting there are “many challenges” regarding immigration.

“But I hope that we are going to make progress this year,” he continued. “Immigration reform is about people. It’s not about politics; it’s about fathers and mothers and children and brothers and sisters.”

Ashley Feasely, policy director of the U.S. bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services, also reflected on upcoming priorities.

“There are many still in Congress who believe that immigration reform is a possibility,” she said. “And I think there are individuals in the incoming White House who are interested in seeing reform. I think it’s important that we continue to engage at the state and local level, with Congress and the new administration, to show the need to reform our broken system.”

For Bishop Vasquez, National Migration Week is a chance to highlight Catholics’ mission to welcome newcomers.

“In Matthew 25, Jesus specifically says, ‘I was a stranger, and you welcomed me,’” he said.  “Those words are applied to our immigrants. Jesus identifies with them completely.”

He noted that many migrants leave difficult situations, including violence and gang warfare. Some have survived human trafficking.

“It’s important that we see them not as problems, but as persons,” he said.

Archbishop Gomez reflected on Pope Francis’ message for National Migration Week.

“He reminds us of the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and that she is our mother, and that we should not be afraid, because we are not alone,” the archbishop said. “It was a beautiful message of hope. I feel that is what we need right now: more hope for the future.”

Also, on Friday, the U.S. bishops’ migration chair criticized the Obama administration’s denial of decades-old special protections for Cuban migrants to the U.S.

“I am disappointed over the administration's sudden policy change to end the 'Wet Foot/ Dry Foot' policy for Cuban arrivals,” Bishop Vasquez stated.

“While we have welcomed normalizing relations with Cuba, the violation of basic human rights remains a reality for some Cubans and the Wet Foot/Dry Foot policy helped to afford them a way to seek refuge in the United States,” he continued.

Previously, as part of the policy in place since the 1990s, Cubans who successfully entered the U.S. without a visa could be paroled for a year and then would be eligible for residency. Those migrants who were intercepted at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard on their way to the U.S. were returned to Cuba.

Now that policy has been repealed, and Cuban migrants found to have entered the U.S. without a visa will be deported back if they do not qualify for asylum.

Jeh Johnson, the outgoing secretary of homeland security, announced the policy shift late Thursday afternoon in a phone conference with reporters. He said it was “part of the normalization of relations with the government of Cuba” and was meant to make the policy “consistent with our laws and our immigration-enforcement priorities.”

Now, as administration officials explained on Thursday, they “will be treated like everybody else.” They will be able to claim asylum and have a hearing.

If fewer than four years have passed between a migrant’s departure from Cuba and the start of his or her deportation proceedings in the U.S., “the Cuban government has agreed to take that person back,” Johnson said.

White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes explained that a recent increase in migration from Cuba to the U.S., due more to a thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations than political repression, precipitated the policy change.

“What we've seen, therefore, is a steady increase to some 40,000 Cubans granted parole in fiscal year 2015; 54,000 roughly in fiscal year 2016,” he said.

Also, he said more Cubans were trying to access the U.S. through Central America and the U.S.-Mexico border and “that was creating both humanitarian challenges and strains within those countries, as large numbers of Cubans were essentially stuck there and then facing a very difficult – and dangerous – journey to our southern border in some cases.”

President Obama said the old policy “was designed for a different era” in his Thursday statement.

“During my administration, we worked to improve the lives of the Cuban people – inside of Cuba – by providing them with greater access to resources, information and connectivity to the wider world,” he stated of his administration’s move to re-open diplomatic relations with Cuba and the loosening of travel restrictions and economic sanctions.

“Sustaining that approach is the best way to ensure that Cubans can enjoy prosperity, pursue reforms and determine their own destiny. As I said in Havana, the future of Cuba should be in the hands of the Cuban people,” Obama said.

Bishop Vasquez, however, lamented Thursday’s policy change as detrimental to Cubans seeking a better life in the U.S., particularly those fleeing religious or political repression.

“Cuban Americans have been one of the most successful immigrant groups in U.S. history. The protections afforded them were a model of humane treatment,” he said.

Now it “will make it more difficult for vulnerable populations in Cuba, such as asylum seekers, children and trafficking victims, to seek protection.”

Even in recent years, human-rights abuses have continued under the Castro regime, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom warned in December.

“While USCIRF has noted that some improvements have been made in recent years in the area of religious freedom, our annual reports document the Cuban government’s continued violations,” they stated.

“Areas of concern include: harassment of religious leaders and laity, interference in religious groups’ internal affairs, and preventing democracy and human-rights activists from participating in religious activities. The government also has threatened to close and confiscate Church properties and reportedly has demolished some churches.”