When summer ended, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas had bused around 9,000 migrants to Washington, D.C., and Latest York City in an expansion of the state’s Operation Lone Star initiative. That plan was launched in March last yr to “secure the border” between the US and Mexico. The Republican governor recently began sending migrants to Chicago also, one other city governed by Democrats. In accordance with the governor’s office, the initiative has also led to just about 300,000 migrant apprehensions and greater than 16,400 felony charges by Texas authorities.
“We began Operation Lone Star to do the job Washington wouldn’t do,” Mr. Abbott said on the anniversary of the initiative, praising the work of law enforcement.
In August, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of Latest York and Msgr. Kevin Sullivan, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Latest York, met privately with quite a lot of the migrants who had arrived on buses from Texas. Catholic Charities assisted 1,500 of the 6,000 migrants who reached Latest York by the top of August. Along with their partners, the agency has provided food, clothing and connections to other services like shelters and immigration attorneys.
“[Jesus] is the one who said to us, ‘After I was a stranger…an immigrant, you welcomed me.”
“Our perspective just isn’t a political perspective. Our perspective just isn’t ‘How did we get on this mess?’ Our perspective is just to assist,” Cardinal Dolan said, noting the archdiocese would also make scholarships available to the youngsters to go to Catholic schools. “[Jesus] is the one who said to us, ‘After I was a stranger…an immigrant, you welcomed me.”
The variety of immigrants coming to the U.S. southern border clearly has disproportionate effects on Texas and other border states. One pressing reason for immigration reform is to permit the burdens of migration on the southern border to be more equitably shared across all the country.
Yet Mr. Abbott’s rhetoric about “the job Washington wouldn’t do” addresses only a small a part of the moral challenge posed by immigration. When people arrive on the U.S. border fleeing violence and persecution of their native lands, all residents, regardless of their political affiliation, have an obligation to look after and welcome them.
Through July, a record 609 migrants had died crossing the border. In August, a 5-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy drowned within the Rio Grande. This summer, 53 migrants died in a tractor-trailer in San Antonio. It’s unconscionable that their deaths haven’t generated a level of urgency to deal with our shattered, dysfunctional immigration system.
Those that coldly blame migrants themselves for these tragedies either don’t understand the threats they face of their home countries, callously pretend that extreme poverty just isn’t an actual life-or-death issue or have so deeply dehumanized migrants that they’re unmoved by their suffering.
Nativist rhetoric has once more gripped our national consciousness. A recent NPR/Ipsos poll found that half of all Americans consider the nation is experiencing an “invasion.” Backing laws that recognizes the human dignity of immigrants and refugees is now seen as a political risk by many politicians and their consultants. Many Republicans in Congress turn up the amount on their anti-immigrant talking points, fearing primary losses. Some Democrats in competitive districts avoid addressing immigration altogether. And fear is precisely the issue. Politicians may fear losing elections, and too many voters appear to fear migrants and asylum seekers themselves.
Nativist rhetoric has once more gripped our national consciousness.
However the individuals who face legitimate fears are the asylum seekers. They fear the lack of their very lives because of maximum poverty and arranged crime at home.
In Central America, teenage boys are forced into gangs and young girls into prostitution. Everyone endures the chaos and violence engendered by gangs. El Salvador and Honduras repeatedly suffer the best homicide rates on the earth.
An extended-term pledge of time and resources might be required to deal with properly the push aspects driving migrants north, but that may be a commitment Americans seem unwilling to make. While President Biden vowed to take a position $4 billion in Central America to deal with root causes of migration, the proposal has yet to be dropped at a vote within the House.
Voters, more concerned with the economy, inflation, health care and climate change, have enabled this congressional inaction. If immigrants and asylum seekers do come up in political debates, they’re featured as scapegoats for rising drug overdoses and better crime rates.
Apathy or hostility toward our migrant brothers and sisters must end. The present asylum system—undermined through the Trump administration—perpetuates an underclass of undocumented immigrants by denying equality to migrants and asylum seekers. “Higher than Trump” just isn’t adequate. While Republicans have consistently impeded progress on comprehensive immigration reform, blaming them does nothing to avoid wasting lives at stake. People of fine will must stand with migrants and demand more from Congress.
“Openness to 1 one other creates spaces of fruitful exchange between different visions and traditions, and opens minds to latest horizons.”
Congressional leaders definitely must hear from their constituents, but that just isn’t enough. To handle this crisis of indifference, a conversion of heart is required.
Parishes should sponsor border experiences that allow U.S. Catholics to know the contemporary migrant experience.
They also can support ongoing efforts by Catholic organizations on the border, just like the Kino Border Initiative, Hope Border Institute, the Humanitarian Respite Center and the work of Catholic Extension and Jesuit Refugee Service/USA.
With the specter of Covid-19 waning, parishes can host town halls and help facilitate a much-needed dialogue. These town halls may help dispel myths surrounding immigration. As noted by the Cato Institute, for instance, migrants are usually not taking American jobs, don’t exploit the welfare system and are usually not a significant source of crime.
Families can add migrants and refugees to their prayer before family meals, recognizing that usually it’s migrants who grow and produce their food. Catholics can keep immigration reform of their hearts during eucharistic adoration. Individual Catholics can take to social media and share true immigrant stories and confront common myths.
“The presence of migrants and refugees represents an awesome challenge, but at the identical time an immense opportunity for the cultural and spiritual growth of everyone,” Pope Francis said in his World Day of Migrants and Refugees message this yr. “Openness to 1 one other creates spaces of fruitful exchange between different visions and traditions, and opens minds to latest horizons.”
These spaces of exchange won’t create themselves, and Catholics cannot sit idly by while migrants and asylum seekers die on our southern border. We must demand far more of our government leaders, but we must also demand far more of ourselves. The lives of our brothers and sisters rely upon it.