Catholic bishops issue nearly unanimous statement against Trump’s ‘indiscriminate’ deportations

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a rare statement admonishing the immigration policies of President Donald Trump.

The conference voted nearly unanimously to pass the statement at the Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore, Maryland, on Wednesday. There were 216 votes in favor of the statement, only five against, with three abstentions.

‘We recognize that nations have a responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system for the sake of the common good.’

“As pastors, we the bishops of the United States are bound to our people by ties of communion and compassion in Our Lord Jesus Christ. We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement,” read the special statement.

“We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care. We lament that some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status,” the bishops added.

The statement went on to call for reform of immigration policies that would preserve national security while also respecting the human dignity of immigrants.

“We are troubled by threats against the sanctity of houses of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools,” they continued. “We are grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school and when we try to console family members who have already been separated from their loved ones.”

The statement also expressed opposition to “indiscriminate mass deportation” and called for the end of “dehumanizing rhetoric and violence” against immigrants as well as law enforcement.

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“We recognize that nations have a responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system for the sake of the common good,” the bishops added. “Without such processes, immigrants face the risk of trafficking and other forms of exploitation. Safe and legal pathways serve as an antidote to such risks.”

The last time the USCCB issued a similar statement was in 2013 against political policies related to contraceptives.

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