EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Few world leaders nowadays are putting out the welcome mat for migrants. Instead, many are painting them as criminals, freeloaders or a threat to jobs or national security, immigration advocates say.
That’s why having the support of the head of the 1.4 billion-strong Roman Catholic Church could make a difference in changing those views, says Dylan Corbett, executive director of El Paso’s Hope Border Institute.
Corbett was part of a delegation of El Paso Catholic leaders and community activists who met with Pope Leo XIV in Rome last month. They talked about the plight of migrants whose hopes of finding a better life have been stunted by closed borders and the fear of family separation among many families in the United States.
“It’s clear that the pope appreciates that (immigration) is a real social issue in our country,” Corbett told Border Report. “When we think about leaders across the world who are speaking for the right of people to migrate, there’ s not a lot of people carrying that flag. […] Pope Leo is one of the few leaders on the social stage making that argument.”
The Hope Border Institute has been advocating for migrants on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border for a decade. Based on Catholic teachings and working with Mexican partners, it provides humanitarian assistance including medical services and shelter for families displaced by war, political oppression, extreme poverty and climate change.
While the challenge of many migrant advocacy organizations used to be assisting those arriving to the U.S. border, their pressing issue today is coping with the fear felt by immigrant families in the interior of the country.
“We saw an uptick in immigration arrests, an uptick in immigration detentions and in policies that are dividing families,” Corbett said. “We started to receive letters from California to Texas, from states like Kansas, Florida, Massachusetts from people who are affected by these policies.”
The calls for help often were emotionally charged – baring the fears of mothers from being separated from their U.S. children or of Americans fearing immigration agents would burst through the doors and take away their landscaper fathers or moms working in someone else’s daycare centers.
The El Paso delegation took those letters and a video to Leo XIV … and he read and watched.
“We didn’t know how long we were going to be able to meet with the pope or see the video or read the letters,” Corbett said. “We wanted to put these letters and these hopes and these anxieties and these stories of resilience in his hands. […] And he met with us. We were able to show them the video, he watched it and it was a very powerful experience.”
He said the pope “teared up” upon seeing the video showing samples of the fear but also the resilience of migrants who want to stay and continue contributing with their work to the American communities where they reside.
“He was very clear about how he felt about it. He said, ‘This is a real injustice.’ He talked about how the church needed to be united and clear in opposing what’s happening and pushing for a better future for so many immigrant families across the country,” Corbett said.
Whether or not Pope Leo’s influence changes things in America, it could help sway leaders in other countries that also have become a destination for people in need but also with a desire to contribute what they have.
“In our country, he’s encouraging people of faith, ordinary Catholics, to defend the contribution and the resilience and the dedication of people who migrate but also to stay united against the injustices we are seeing,” Corbett said. “The Trump administration and the GOP Congress passed (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) that gives incredible resources to the deportation machine. So, this is something we are going to continue to see – these attacks on immigrant communities across the country.”
Join the award-winning Border Report team at borderreport.com for a daily, in-depth discussion about people living, working and migrating along the U.S.-Mexico border.
You can also watch past episodes of the Border Report Live, highlighting not only immigration and border security, but cartel violence in Mexico, border trade, politics and the U.S. and Mexico’s ongoing water dispute on the border.
Follow Border Report on Facebook and X. You can also sign up for our free daily newsletter and desktop alerts, here.
Read: Read More