ALBUQUERQUE – U.S. policy on detaining immigrants fleeing violence in Central America is unjust, and the federal government’s obsession with enforcement is hurting families, Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester said Wednesday.
Speaking at an immigration forum at Albuquerque’s Our Lady of Guadalupe parish, Wester didn’t mention the Obama administration by name but said the federal government isn’t giving detained immigrants due process and called on U.S. officials to change that situation. He also said the failure to pass federal comprehensive immigration reform is fostering more poverty and noted that the parents of Jesus were refugees.
“This is a Gospel mandate, not a suggestion,” Wester said, referring to the church’s teaching of treating immigrants with respect.
The immigration forum, which attracted about 400 people, came after Wester heard Pope Francis celebrate Mass from a field in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, last week.
The pontiff spoke on immigration and repeated his call on the faithful to turn attention toward the poor and vulnerable. Ciudad Juarez, on Mexico’s northern border across from El Paso, Texas, was the last stop in the pope’s five-day visit to Mexico.
“I think (the pope’s visit) underscores the fact that in our country of the United State that we have a failed immigration system,” said Wester, who joined other U.S. bishops on a levee on the U.S. side of the border but didn’t visit Mexico. “I think the pope’s visit clearly is intended to underscore his love for people ... But this is not just us. This is the whole world.”
For example, the pope has asked world leaders to help refugees fleeing violence in Syria and has spoken out against how some refugees were being treated in the Mediterranean while trying to escape, Wester said.
During the forum, Wester talked about his experiences of visiting the border and listening to the pope.
Ricardo Ruiz, an immigrant living in the country illegally who grew up mostly in New Mexico, said that without any reforms, he and his family live in fear that they will be separated because of current deportation policies.
In recent months, the debate in New Mexico over immigration reform has centered over lawmakers changing the state’s driver’s license law. New Mexico had allowed immigrants living in the country legally to obtain driver’s licenses.
A new law, expected to be signed soon by Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, only will allow new immigrants living in the country illegally to get driver’s authorization cards after submitting their fingerprints.
Immigrant advocates had been active in the debate over the law, but they haven’t been as outspoken as advocates in other states about President Barack Obama’s policy on recent immigration raids. The administration has defended the raids and its detention policies as a necessary enforcement of the law.
