A delegation of Catholic bishops from the Texas-Mexico border are calling on the governments of the United States and Mexico – and on residents of both nations – to seek out immigration enforcement policy that upholds immigrants’ “God-given dignity” and to take action against the inhumane treatment of people.
“Holding many, many people – not things, people – with so many people in immigration centers, it’s very easy that people, individuals, will be forgotten, unattended, not served well, even in basic needs,” the Rev. Gustavo Garcia-Siller, archbishop of San Antonio, said during a Friday morning news conference at the El Paso Catholic Diocesan Pastoral Center, 499 St. Matthews St. “We can do something about it in advocacy and in actions.”
Garcia-Siller was among the delegation members, also known as the Tex-Mex Bishops, who met in El Paso this week for what has become the longest-running international gathering of Catholic bishops worldwide. The bishops have alternated gatherings between the United States and Mexico over the last 40 years.
On Friday, they spoke primarily on immigration and the rapidly changing landscape impacting people in the United States and Mexico. They also touched on the violence in Mexico following the killing of Mexican cartel leader Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes and the need for an ongoing pastoral response to affected communities.
The group was outspoken about what they called a new chapter of migration, saying it has been largely provoked by the political unrest, poverty and violence in migrants’ countries of origin but also by what Garcia-Siller called “unjust, unlawful and wrong, irrational laws of the United States of America that is asking us to see differently, to find new ways of how to be in action in favor of our brothers and sisters who are in suffering.”
Since taking office in January 2025, President Donald Trump’s administration has shifted immigration enforcement from the border to the interior of the country, focusing on mass detention and deportation operations, and expanded arrests at immigration courts, workplaces and on the streets. The administration has restricted asylum and rolled back temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of people.
Lawmakers, advocacy groups and residents who oppose the current enforcement tactics have raised alarms about due process and human rights violations, sparking protests and pushback against the administration’s practices. Supporters of the stepped-up enforcement argue it’s necessary to protect public safety and deter illegal immigration, especially after years of high migrant arrivals.
El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz pointed to immigrant ministries within the diocese and area nonprofit organizations where people can volunteer to provide hospitality, support for legal services and engage in advocacy, including Estrella del Paso, Annunciation House and Hope Border Institute. He said volunteers have been accompanying people to immigration court, and that the diocese is creating a network of volunteers to reach out to families who have had relatives detained by immigration officers – especially those who have lost the breadwinners.
SEE ALSO: Dismissed, then detained: Immigrants face swift deportation after El Paso court hearings
Two bishops from Mexico – the Rev. Alfonso Gerardo Miranda Guardiola of Piedras Negras and the Rev. Francisco Gallardo of Matamoros-Reynosa – touched on the state of migration in Mexico. They said Mexico’s churches welcome migrants with open arms, particularly when many have experienced kidnapping, violence and extortion on their journeys.
“From the trenches they know how to help, care for, protect and integrate migrants in our communities, men and women in search of a better life,” Gallardo said.
The bishops pointed out that Ciudad Juárez is not seeing the number of migrants it expected – either coming north from South or Central America or being deported from the United States.
The discussions during the week drew from the two recent documents from the U.S. Catholic bishops: the November Special Message from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on immigration, and the Statement of 20 U.S. Catholic Bishops on recommended immigration enforcement reform.
In the statement issued Feb. 24, before Trump’s State of the Union address, the bishops urged federal leaders to pursue immigration policies that uphold the dignity of migrants and refugees.
They called for restoring access to asylum at the border, safeguarding due process and protecting family unity, while cautioning against enforcement actions that target law-abiding immigrants or instill fear in communities. The bishops also pressed for limits on detention — particularly for vulnerable people — and for the protection of sensitive locations such as churches and schools.
Seitz talked about border communities, saying those who live in them understand their economic and cultural importance.
“There are so many ways in which borders don’t create a line of confrontation, a line of total separation, but rather a place where two nations and states encounter one another and add to the richness of those peoples that meet here,” he said. “We want to protect and recall that reality even in these times when the fences, the walls are getting higher and higher and razor wire is topping it off. We want to maintain this beautiful truth of the richness of our border region.”
During the gathering this week, the religious leaders also discussed what they called a growing mental health crisis and the need for bishops from Canada, the United States and Latin America to speak with one voice on the interconnectedness of issues affecting the entire American continent.
Other delegates in attendance included bishops and archbishops of San Angelo, Brownsville, Corpus Christi and Nuevo Laredo, as well as Ciudad Juárez and Saltillo in Mexico.
The delegation of bishops will be joined by more from throughout the United States and Mexico in El Paso next month for another meeting and for what Seitz called a “peaceful and prayerful” but visible response.
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