BALTIMORE (RNS) — On the first public day of their November meeting, U.S. Catholic bishops spoke about the devastating impacts of the Trump administration’s immigration policies on U.S. Catholics.
The bishops, who held a series of public sessions in Baltimore on Tuesday (Nov. 11), after a day of private meetings Monday, addressed the issue of immigration and deportations during an afternoon update from the committee on migration, led by El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz, the outgoing chair of the committee.
“ This unyielding commitment to mass deportation and curtailing legal immigration, combined with the unprecedented funding for immigration enforcement that was included in the recent reconciliation bill, has created a situation unlike anything we’ve seen previously,” Seitz told the bishops in a presentation of the work his committee has been doing.
“ Our immigrant brothers and sisters, from those who are undocumented, to those who are naturalized citizens, are living in a deep state of fear,” said Seitz.
In early October, Pope Leo XIV met with Seitz and an El Paso delegation to the Vatican that included immigrants and prelates. Leo told the group “the church cannot be silent” as U.S. immigrants face a feeling of “powerlessness,” according to reporting by El Paso Matters.
Leo said he’d like to see the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops be more vocal against the deportations.
Bishop Mark Seitz, right, visits with Pope Leo XIV to deliver migrant letters from the …