Rome, Feb 11: Pope Francis issued a major rebuke Tuesday to the Trump administration’s mass deportation of migrants, warning that the program to forcefully deport people purely because of their illegal status deprives them of their inherent dignity and “will end badly”.
Francis took the remarkable step of addressing the US migrant crackdown in a letter to US bishops who have criticised the expulsions as harming the most vulnerable.
History’s first Latin American pope has long made caring for migrants a priority of his pontificate, demanding that countries welcome, protect, promote and integrate those fleeing conflicts, poverty and climate disasters. Francis has also said governments are expected to do so to the limits of their capacity.
In the letter, Francis said nations have the right to defend themselves and keep their communities safe from criminals.
“That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defencelessness,” he wrote.
Citing the biblical stories of migration, the people of Israel, the Book of Exodus and Jesus Christ’s own experience, Francis affirmed the right of people to seek shelter and safety in other lands and said he was concerned with what is going on in the United States. (AP)
Religious groups sue Trump administration
Washington, Feb 11: More than two-dozen Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans – ranging from the Episcopal Church and the Union for Reform Judaism to the Mennonites and Unitarian Universalists – filed a federal court lawsuit Tuesday challenging a Trump administration move giving immigration agents more leeway to make arrests at houses of worship.
The lawsuit contends that the new policy is spreading fear of raids, thus lowering attendance at worship services. The result, says the suit, infringes on the groups’ religious freedom – namely their ability to minister to migrants