Catholic Bishops, groups speak against President's national emergency

[pnwmom]

https://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/catholic-bishops-groups-speak-against-presidents-national-emergency

"In our view, a border wall is first and foremost a symbol of division and animosity between two friendly countries. Furthermore, the wall would be an ineffective use of resources at a time of financial austerity; it would also would destroy parts of the environment, disrupt the livelihoods of ranchers and farmers, weaken cooperation and commerce between border communities, and, at least in one instance, undermine the right to the freedom of worship," said the statement released just after Trump, in a news conference, said he was going to sign a national emergency declaration to stave off a flow of drugs, human trafficking, gang members and illegal immigration coming across the southern border.

SNIP

The statement was signed by Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego; Texas Bishops Mark Seitz of El Paso, James Tamayo of Laredo and Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of San Antonio; Bishop Edward Weisenburger of Tucson, Arizona; Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey; New Mexico Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe; retired Bishop Ricardo Ramírez of Las Cruces; retired Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas, who is apostolic administrator of Las Cruces; and Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky.

SNIP

The bishops in their statement said they worried that a wall would drive migrants to more remote regions of the border and risk great loss of life. When a wall was constructed in the San Diego area in the mid-1990s, for example, migrants were driven, often by smugglers, to the desert of Arizona and other remote regions in order to cross the border, their statement said, citing U.S. Border Patrol statistics that showed that over 7,000 migrants died in those areas from 1998 to 2016.


"The truth is that the majority of persons coming to the U.S./Mexico border are asylum-seekers, many of whom are women and children from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador who are fleeing persecution and violence in their home countries," the bishops' statement says. "Along their journey to safety, they encounter many dangers. A wall would not keep them safe from those dangers. Rather, a wall would, further subject them to harm by drug cartels, smugglers, and human traffickers."

They said that while the country had a right to control and secure its borders, "border enforcement must protect and preserve the human rights and life of all persons, regardless of their legal status." Instead of a wall, they said, Congress should focus on more humane policies, such as reforming the immigration system "in a manner that is just, protects human rights and reflects American values."

[Thomas Hurt]

1. and with many RCs this will fall on deaf ears, cuz Donnie is going to give them an abortion ban.

[pnwmom]

3. Catholics are just as likely to get abortions as other women.

So they're not all in favor of a ban.

https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/01/24/catholics-are-just-likely-get-abortion-other-us-women-why

[spanone]

2. Not two friendly countries, we are not friendly in any sense of the word.