By Bishop Michael Pham
Last year, in a Special Message, my brother bishops and I stated our opposition to the “indiscriminate mass deportation of people.” The immigration enforcement operation currently being implemented in San Diego is an example of this type of immigration enforcement. Therefore, I oppose this operation and urge the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to suspend it as soon as possible.
Catholic teaching instructs us that a sovereign country has the right to manage its borders and enforce its laws. However, in enforcing the law, Catholic teaching also states that human dignity and human rights of the person must be upheld. In this enforcement initiative, as well as others prior to it, the human dignity and human rights of persons are not being protected.
From reports from Catholics and others in our diocese, immigrants are being arrested indiscriminately, without the proper due process protections that are normally part of our justice system. Immigrants who have been here for decades and have built equities in our nation are being targeted, with families being separated and children left without parents. They are being placed in detention, often without the benefit of judicial review and access to legal representation.
In a statement in February of this year, I joined with several of my brother bishops in outlining the proper safeguards needed to protect human dignity and human rights in our immigration enforcement system. I urge the administration to adopt these safeguards as soon as possible. I also urge our nation’s leaders to reform our nation’s immigration system so that safe and legal pathways are created for immigration and that residents who have contributed to our nation over time have an opportunity to earn their citizenship.
I offer my prayers for those who live in fear and are facing detention, deportation, and family separation. I also offer my prayers for our law enforcement officials, so that they receive the grace and wisdom to enforce the law with fairness and justice.
Our nation is at its greatest when it welcomes immigrants, who have helped build our country. We are a nation of immigrants. Let us not turn away from this heritage but embrace it, so that we are truly one nation under God. When we celebrated World Day for Migrants and Refugees on Sept. 27 at Balboa Park, we celebrated this basic truth: All are sacred. This is the way God has made us, and this is what we must always stand for.
