Trump’s executive orders will subject families and children to grave danger, USCCB committee chairman warns

January 24, 2025

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CWN Editor's Note: Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, the chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on Migration, has issued a statement on President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration.

“Church teaching recognizes a country’s right and responsibility to promote public order, safety, and security through well-regulated borders and just limits on immigration,” he said. “However, as shepherds, we cannot abide injustice, and we stress that national self-interest does not justify policies with consequences that are contrary to the moral law.”

Bishop Seitz offered strong criticism of several aspects of the executive orders and other presidential actions:

• “The use of sweeping generalizations to denigrate any group, such as describing all undocumented immigrants as ‘criminals’ or ‘invaders,’ to deprive them of protection under the law, is an affront to God, who has created each of us in his own image.”
• “While an emphasis on anti-trafficking is welcomed,” several of the executive orders “are specifically intended to eviscerate humanitarian protections enshrined in federal law and undermine due process, subjecting vulnerable families and children to grave danger.”
• “Preventing any access to asylum and other protections will only endanger those who are most vulnerable and deserving of relief, while empowering gangs and other predators to exploit them.”
• “Indefinitely halting refugee resettlement is unmerited ... Even non-humanitarian legal immigration and naturalized persons are targeted by these policies in support of a so-called ‘unified American identity.’”
• “The proposed interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment to limit birthright citizenship sets a dangerous precedent, contradicting the Supreme Court’s longstanding interpretation.”

“We urge President Trump to pivot from these enforcement-only policies to just and merciful solutions, working in good faith with members of Congress to achieve meaningful, bipartisan immigration reform that furthers the common good with an effective, orderly immigration system,” Bishop Seitz concluded. “My brother bishops and I will support this in any way we can, while continuing to accompany our immigrant brothers and sisters in accordance with the Gospel of Life.”

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• Posted by: feedback - Today 6:38 AM ET USA

  “Church teaching recognizes a country’s right and responsibility to promote public order, safety, and security through well-regulated borders and just limits on immigration,” said Bishop Seitz of the USCCB Committee on Migration. This part of his statement comes four years too late - four long years of complete "migration" lawlessness and chaos, while the USCCB stayed silent. Now the Bishops, including McElroy, need to say a word of praise for Trump for setting the 23 jailed pro-lifers free.