Immigration

President Donald Trump on March 15 invoked the Alien Enemies Act for the first time since World War II, granting himself broad authority under a wartime law to deport people allegedly associated with a Venezuelan gang, sparking a legal battle and prompting concern from Catholic immigration advocates.

Pope Francis’ letter rebuking US President Donald Trump for failing to respect the dignity of migrants who move to the United States seeking to escape oppression comes in the wake of questionable theologizing by Vice-President JD Vance.

The Trump administration has been very busy and has, not unexpectedly, generated much discussion and to be sure controversy.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sued the Trump administration Feb. 18 over the suspension of funding of refugee resettlement assistance.

Pope Francis is urging U.S. Catholics and people of goodwill to not give in to “narratives” that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to migrants and refugees.

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago reassured migrants in his archdiocese that reports of a possible mass deportation by a new administration in Washington that would target the Chicago area “wound us deeply.”

With the help of The Good Shepherd, the Diocese of Hamilton’s Office for Refugees is ensuring new Canadians are not left behind this Christmas season.

The recent mood swing against immigration, in a nation of immigrants whose people have always been welcoming to the outsider, is disappointing to those who work with migrants, but the hope is this will not endure.