migrants

In the spotlight: President meets with pope, “rally nuns,” “voice of the unborn”

The church’s call for Mexico to revisit its migration policies followed the arrival of some 14,500 Haitians in Del Rio, Texas, where they camped under a bridge as they waited to be processed by U.S. border officials.

More than 200 supporters gathered on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border near Nogales, Arizona, Sept. 25, the eve of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, to accompany 25 families seeking asylum in the United States.

For months, the Biden administration has been publicly hammering an unwelcoming message to those trying to enter the U.S. illegally at the southernmost part of the country: “The border is closed.”

The Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security announced Sept. 13 that the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program is accepting new applications as part of the Central American Minors program.

A joint report by the Kino Border Initiative and Network, the Catholic social justice lobby, details complaints lodged against U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents against those seeking asylum at the Arizona-Mexico border.

July saw record encounters between Customs and Border Protection agents and people attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

In an Aug. 12 trip to McAllen and Brownsville in Texas, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas conceded that an “unprecedented” situation is taking place at the border, calling it “one of the toughest challenges we face.”