A group of U.S. bishops, most from the U.S.-Mexico border region, wrote a May 20 letter to members of Congress expressing “grave concern” with budget legislation that would provide an additional $72 billion for immigration enforcement.
The letter came the same day Senate Republicans on the Budget Committee advanced the measure, and the day after it was advanced by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
The letter to members of Congress was signed by 14 U.S. bishops, including Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of San Antonio; Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas; and Bishop Michael M. Pham of San Diego.
They wrote that the potential additional funds would follow previous legislation that already “provided an unprecedented $142 billion to DHS for the arrest, detention, and deportation of immigrants across the country,” referring to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which enacted key items of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda on issues including taxes and immigration.
“As pastors, we remain troubled by how immigrants, the vast majority of whom have committed no crimes and have built equities in the country, have become targets for enforcement, with their God-given human dignity and human rights being violated on a daily basis,” they wrote.
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