U.S.-Mexico Border

Border bishops from the U.S. and Mexico, along with representatives from various Catholic social justice groups, will gather in El Paso, Texas, Feb. 25-27 for an emergency meeting on recent immigration developments in the region.

The Dignified Border shelter is also short on space to host asylum-seekers for long-term stays.

Benedictine Sister Janine Mettling and Stephanie Hart traveled to McAllen, Texas, Jan. 22-Feb. 6 to assist at the Catholic Charities-run Humanitarian Respite Center.

A report published Jan. 17 says the number of immigrant children separated from their parents at the border last year is unknown and the number given out by government officials at the end of 2018, saying that 2,737 children were separated, is not accurate. The number may be much higher.

A delegation of U.S. bishops traveled to the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, to learn more about the detention of immigrants, mostly Central Americans, at the U.S.-Mexico border.

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.

Some have taken their indignation all the way to the border between the U.S. and Mexico, while others have taken action closer to home, protesting while accompanied by their children and fellow parishioners in cities and towns across the U.S.