Coalition Members Join Effort to Encourage Just Immigration Policies

Horrified by the deaths of 38 migrants in a Ciudad Juarez shelter, the Jesuit Refugee Service, NETWORK, and the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns recently co-signed a letter to President Biden and his current administration about the repeal of Title 42. 

Mobilizing via relationships built in part through work with the Coalition, the members joined with 12 other Catholic organizations to register their deep concerns. 

The letter observes that the long-term policy of deterrence "has not resulted in a safe and secure border but instead has only brought pain and suffering upon the most vulnerable."

Additionally, the letter reminded Biden that Pope Francis has said:

The sin is to allow these fears to determine our responses, to limit our choices, to compromise respect and generosity, to feed hostility and rejection. The sin is to refuse to encounter the other, the different, the neighbour, when this is in fact a privileged opportunity to encounter the Lord.

Homily, World Day of Migrants and Refugees
January 14, 2018

In conclusion, the co-signing organziations asked President Biden to "consider other alternatives to access ports of entry along the U.S. southern border" and encouraged him to seize the moment as "an opportunity for this administration to stand firm and model for the world a system of encounter and reception rather than continuing on a path focused on deterrence."


Update: On April 27, Jesuit Refugee Services responded to the Administration's initial plans for the repeal of Title 42 with a statement of caution.

To add your voice to the campaign, send a letter to the White House and your legislators via JRS Take Action to Protect US Asylum page. 

To learn more about Catholic Social Teaching on immigration, read these resources:

Catholic Social Teaching on Immigration and the Movement of Peoples | USCCB

Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity | USCCB