Columbans adamantly oppose Administration's actions at US/Mexico border

Border fence

The Columban Centre For Advocacy and Outreach have issued the following statement today, in response to the US government's separating migrants families and 'caging' children.

Family unity is sacred. Every person has the right to seek safety. These are some of the most basic tenets of Catholic Social Teaching. Separating families at the border and restricting access to asylum stands in direct contradiction to these core values.

These efforts severely limit the ability of vulnerable people coming to the southern border seeking safety to access protection. They go even further by punishing them for doing so. It is not against the law to seek asylum, yet all these policies effectively shut off access to this protection and criminalize those seeking it.

Rev Robert E Mosher, SSC, Director of the Columban Mission Center in El Paso, Texas said: "Columbans have lived and ministered on the US/Mexico border for over 20 years. We have witnessed the devastating impacts that arbitrary increases in enforcement, including this most recent announcement, have on migrants and border communities.

"It is immoral to make families suffer this kind of traumatic separation of children from their parents, especially in order to obtain some imagined purpose that is thought to justify the measure - that is, to send a message of deterrence to others. This will only increase the pain of the separation of families, with violent effects on children as developing human beings.

"As Catholics and members of border communities, we consider it a blessing and an opportunity to serve and support those coming to the United States seeking safety and stability. We believe our federal policy should reflect the same welcome and respect that border communities themselves show, and abstain from this unethical treatment of human beings, made in the image of our Creator."

We call on the administration to immediately end this practice and instead uphold the value of human dignity and family unity in all its immigration policies.

The Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach is the advocacy office for the Missionary Society of St Columban. The Center serves as the line of communication between Columban missionaries serving in 16 countries around the world and policy makers in Washington, DC Our mission is to work towards a more just, peaceful, and environmentally sustainable world by engaging in the political process guided by our Catholic faith and the Gospel.

Read more about the The Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach here: http://columbancenter.org

Twitter: @ColumbanCenter