The Catholic Church has a Christian approach towards the acceptance of refugees and true migrants into a country. Conversely, there are valid concerns about whom and how many enter a country especially when lacking all documentation and review by immigration.
Unfortunately, Trump is his own worst enemy when he inflames the situation by touting “mass deportation” from America.
I believe that we can make a valid comparison between the Church’s teaching on marriage, to that of migration! The Church teaches that marriage is forever — but also that an abused spouse does NOT have to accept physical or mental abuse and does not have to stay in that abusive relationship. (Spouse being male or female.) Correlating this to migration:
A receiving country does NOT have to accept or retain those who harm or intend to harm, the citizens, government or infrastructure of that territory.
The Holy Father has made clear statements — unfortunately many lacking all nuance about the difficulties involved — about migration. He may have been ‘set-up’ during a recent talk-show when asked about Trump’s “mass deportations.” He responded: “If true, this will be a disgrace, because it makes the poor wretches who have nothing pay the bill.”
Episcopal Bishop Rev. Mariann Budde last week “preached” at the Inaugural Prayer Service:
Episcopal Bishop Budde
"And the people -- the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes at their restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals, they -- they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors…"
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is also outspoken about migration. Their position document: “Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity” states:
The call to communion goes out to all members of the Church—bishops, priests, deacons, religious, lay leaders, and parishioners—to prepare themselves to receive the newcomers with a genuine spirit of welcome.
They go on to say: “the greater number come as refugees and immigrants on the edge of survival…” which, for economic migrants, might not be true.
The Catholic League
Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League commented about voluntary migrants:
“Historically, the poorest of the poor are rarely, if ever, the ones who migrate from poor countries to rich countries. Quite frankly, the poorest of the poor are so undernourished, and physically disabled, that they don’t have the stamina to migrate. It’s those who don’t share these characteristics who migrate.
This observation is backed up by the social science. Oxford economist Paul Collier has spent much of his career studying the poorest people on earth. A summary of his work found that “Those who seek entry to wealthy countries are rarely the poorest of the poor; they are those with the resources and skills necessary to migrate.”
He asks a great question: “…if these migrants owned “nothing,” as the pope says, why is it that millions of them have money to pay the drug cartels, gangsters who exploit them in their quest for entry?”
He provides statistics from a “Migration Policy” but does not provide the actual reference so I have not yet cross-checked the details provided below. [I have requested the reference and will amend the article if I find differing information.]
Donohue claims that of migrants into the US:
54% have a high school education or beyond;
24 percent of “the unauthorized population” have a high school diploma or equivalent;
12 percent have some college or associate’s degree;
18 percent have a bachelors, graduate, or professional degree;
43% make at or above 200 percent of the poverty line.
Criminals & Terrorists
As noted in my previous article [Sin Against Migrants]: “As of July 21, 2024, there were 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories on ICE’s national docket…Of those, 435,719 are convicted criminals, and 226,847 have pending criminal charges.”
Those included:
57,000+ for dangerous drugs;
64,000+ for assault including sexual assault/rape &,
13,000+ for homicide.
Tom Homan, Director of ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is focusing on the criminal elements and public-safety threats to America, first. With the numbers above, that will take ICE a long, long time.
A big part of the difficulty is the laissez-faire approach to law enforcement in “Sanctuary” cities. This was mirrored in Britain with the Rape Gang scandal when police, child welfare & other services ignored the rape of working-class underage girls.
It is almost funny when a Haitian gang-member with 17 convictions (title photo) shouts “F*** Trump!…Biden forever, Bro!” after being arrested by immigration services. He knows exactly which president buttered his bread! A gang member roaming free despite 17 convictions is…disgusting.
(click image to see video on X.)
The problem is not only on the US Southern border. There is good evidence about illegal crossings into America from the North — though we get many crossing from America into Canada, also!
“On the Northern US border, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have nabbed more than 19,000 illegal immigrants at one sector alone along the US-Canada border during Fiscal Year (FY) 2024.”
Those caught came from 97 different countries, including China, Russia, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Yemen! No-one can logically claim that all of these are bona fide migrants — that would defy logic!
Repatriation
It is fair to call the process of sending criminals back to their country of origin as “repatriation” rather than using the sympathy-inducing term of “deportation.”
Surely, most law-abiding citizens — at least those with more than 2 brain-cells — support the removal of public-safety threats and criminals?
Kevin Hay