In what is likely to result in another legal showdown over immigration, the Trump administration is seeking to set down new rules that would allow government officials to detain children in immigration detention facilities — this time accompanied by their undocumented parents — for longer periods of time than currently allowed.
A Sept. 4 letter signed by more than 1,500 Catholic nuns, priests and other church leaders from around the country addressed to U.S. senators voiced concerns about Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, a fellow Catholic, as he faced confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill in early September that may result in a seat for him on the Supreme Court of the United States.
Some had been on the road for weeks, others for days, and some entered looking haggard and sunburned with little more than the clothes they were wearing, some holding the hands of their children as a group of Catholic bishops joined a chorus of hands applauding in welcome.
The bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States have for weeks expressed outrage and condemned the government’s recent practice of separating children from a parent or a family member if they’re caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without legal documentation.
Bipartisan disagreement on how to fix the country’s immigration system led to failure once again as lawmakers on Capitol Hill turned down one immigration bill June 21 and postponed a vote on a second proposal, which also has a slim opportunity of passing.
From Denver to New York City, the country’s Catholic bishops have joined a chorus of organizations, institutions and high-profile individuals urging the Trump administration to stop separating children from their parents as they seek respite in the U.S. from dire conditions in their home countries, largely in Central America.
The U.S. bishops June 13 decried U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision that asylum seekers fleeing domestic or gang violence cannot find protection in the United States.
When the House voted on the farm bill May 18, the measure’s merits were only partly considered. But what brought it down to a surprising defeat was not its content, but a vastly different subject: immigration.
