‘It is punishment’: LA archbishop blasts Trump’s mass deportations
FILE PHOTOS
LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez hit out Tuesday at the Trump administration, writing that the White House offers no immigration policy “beyond the stated goal of deporting thousands of people each day.”
In his weekly column in the Catholic magazine Angelus, Gomez addresses the current immigration climate locally and across the nation, calling for a new national conversation about immigration and offered proposals based on the principles of religious teaching.
Gomez noted that President Donald Trump’s federal immigration actions are causing panic and disruption in the daily lives of families, leading people to believe they must stay home and live behind locked doors.
The current administration “has offered no immigration policy beyond the stated goal of deporting thousands of people each day,” the archbishop wrote.
“This is not policy, it is punishment, and it can only result in cruel and arbitrary outcomes. Already we are hearing stories of innocent fathers and mothers being wrongly deported, with no recourse to appeal. A great nation can take the time and care to make distinctions and judge each case on its merits.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gomez said it was possible that the previous administration in Washington, D.C., “went too far in not securing our borders and in permitting far too many people to enter our country without vetting.”
Gomez wrote that the last reform of US immigration laws took place in 1986. He says it isn’t fair to punish ordinary working men and women for 40 years of “neglect” by political and business leaders.
“It is time for a new national conversation about immigration, one that is realistic and makes necessary moral and practical distinctions about those in our country illegally,” Gomez wrote. “Finally, and most importantly, we should find a way to offer legal status to those who have been in our country for many years…”
Gomez said he agrees that known terrorists and violent criminals should be deported, but in a way that is consistent with long-held values, that respects their rights to due process.
“We can tighten border security, and use technologies and other means to help employers verify the legal status of their employees,” the archbishop wrote. “We should restore our moral commitments to providing asylum and protective status to genuine refugees and endangered populations.”
Summing up, Gomez says he is not writing about new ideas, “but they are the start of a new conversation. And it is time that we start talking again and stop fighting in our streets.” (CNS)
