Hours before President Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, which is expected to include comments on immigration enforcement, 18 Roman Catholic bishops and archbishops from U.S. border regions issued a strongly worded statement urging Congress and the administration to make specific policy changes on the federal treatment of migrants.
Their list of demands includes honoring migrants’ right to apply for asylum at the border, protecting their access to sensitive locations like schools and houses of worship, keeping mixed-status families together, halting intimidating enforcement tactics like roving patrols and federal agents’ use of masks, and funding reintegration programs in deportees’ home countries.
“While we acknowledge the right and duty of a sovereign nation to enforce its laws, we also believe that those laws should be upheld in a manner that protects the God-given human dignity and rights of the human person,” the bishops wrote.
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Here’s the list of 18 bishops who signed the letter:
- Gustavo Garcia-Siller, Archbishop of San Antonio
- John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe
- Paul D. Etienne, Archbishop of Seattle
- Edward J. Weisenburger, Archbishop of Detroit
- Peter Baldacchino, Bishop of Las Cruces
- Oscar Cantú, Bishop of San Jose
- John P. Dolan, Bishop of Phoenix
- Daniel E. Garcia, Bishop of Austin
- James A. Misko, Bishop of Tucson
- Gerald F. Kicanas, Bishop Emeritus of Tucson
- Michael Pham, Bishop of San Diego
- Mark J. Seitz, Bishop of El Paso
- James S. Wall, Bishop of Gallup
- Nicholas DiMarzio, Bishop Emeritus of Brooklyn
- Bruce Lewandowski, Bishop of Providence
- John Stowe, Bishop of Lexington
- Peter Da Bui, Auxiliary Bishop of Phoenix
- Eduardo A. Nevares, Auxiliary Bishop of Phoenix