United States President Donald Trump’s policies on unauthorised immigrants and mass deportation operations have caught Latin American countries off guard, prompting them to improvise ways to deal with the arrival of high numbers of those being deported. Source: OSV News.
The Mexican bishops have called for national unity in the face of the new administration’s policies.
Speaking about the policy of the new US administration, the bishops affirmed: “We can’t help but consider it worrying.”
In a statement on Monday, they said that given the series of measures Mr Trump “has been taking since the first day of his (administration), it is clear that he aims to pressure our country to achieve very concrete goals in his government plans: combat the activity of organised crime dedicated to drug trafficking, tackle the issue of migration and overcome the disadvantages in economic relations between the two countries that, according to their criteria, are unfavourable for North America.”
The bishops praised the first female president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, for “her major openness to dialogue,” and said she “has the opportunity to make a difference from her feminine gaze and sensitivity”.
The bishops said that in face of challenges in international politics, “Mexicans must unite to defend the interior of our country, our identity, our freedom, our values, our human and constitutional rights, our institutions and our security, through inclusive governmental strategies that take into account different political forces, organised civil society, religious associations and civic participation at large.”
Meanwhile in the region, churches struggled to support migrants in face of what Catholic experts called continued disrespect of basic human rights.
Meetings of Catholic groups that work with immigrants and refugees were organised this month in order to allow its members to reflect on new strategies as planes with deported immigrants from several countries began arriving at Panama and Costa Rica.
Central American nations have already been noticing a large movement of immigrants who recently left the US and are now heading to their original countries, something that also requires support from humanitarian organisations.
Costa Rica and Panama expect up to 10,000 immigrants crossing their borders in the near future.
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Mexico’s bishops urge unity as church struggles to assist those deported under Trump policies (By Eduardo Campos Lima, OSV News)
