Illegal immigration

Nearly five dozen priests attending the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests annual assembly spent 90 minutes with a Honduran who sought protection from deportation in a St. Louis-area church.

During April 23 oral arguments before the Supreme Court, the majority of justices seemed in favor of an added question about U.S. citizenship on the 2020 census questionnaire.

In Calais, France, migrants find a warm refuge in Caritas' day shelter. They also feel safe enough from the police who prevent them from attempting to reach the U.K. to talk about alleged police violence on the radio.

The chairman of the U.S. bishops' migration committee and the president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services March 13 joined Texas and Mexico bishops in opposing the U.S. policy of sending asylum-seekers back to Mexico while they wait for court proceedings.

Calling the federal government's migration protection protocols – also known as the "Remain in Mexico" policy – "baseless and immoral," a coalition of 500 religious organizations and leaders have asked Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen for an immediate end to the policy.

Samuel Oliver-Bruno left a Durham, N.C., church where he was taking sanctuary for fingerprinting at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. He was tackled and whisked into a van by four plainclothes ICE agents, as church members who accompanied him watched in horror. 

This November, Oregonians will vote on whether the nation's oldest statewide sanctuary law will remain in place. State election officials announced July 17 that Initiative Petition 22, the "Stop Oregon Sanctuaries" campaign, has enough valid signatures to make the fall ballot.

The delegation will travel Monday to the border diocese of Brownsville, Texas, where bishops are expected to discuss the Trump administration's separation of families attempting to enter the U.S. illegally.