Border bishops issue immigration policy wish list ahead of State of the Union

Bishops and archbishops from border states in the United States strongly urged the government to protect churches from immigration enforcement in a statement issued ahead of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.

Eighteen Catholic bishops and archbishops said Feb. 24 they “speak out as pastors in border states and beyond concerned about the impact of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) recent and ongoing immigration enforcement activities against individuals and families who are without legal status in our country.”

The statement comes from bishops from a number of states including Texas, Arizona, California, and New Mexico. The group is a subset of the hundreds of bishops and archbishops in the U.S.

“While we acknowledge the right and duty of a sovereign nation to enforce its laws, we also believe that those laws should be upheld in a manner that protects the God-given human dignity and rights of the human person,” the bishops wrote. They noted the facility known as Alligator Alcatraz in Florida “is of grave concern” to them.

The bishops called for Congress to consider specific immigration policy changes that they believe “will help protect the human rights of immigrants and their families.” The recommendations included:

Honor the right to apply for asylum at the border.
Protect “sensitive locations” such as churches.
Restore due process in the immigration system.

Step back from focusing enforcement on immigrants contributing to the common good.
Minimize the separation of families.
End the use of masks and tactics “designed to intimidate immigrants and create fear.”
Fund reintegration programs for deportees.
Enforce detention facility standards.
Policy recommendations
The bishops said they are “very concerned with bona fide asylum-seekers being denied the opportunity to apply for asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.” The bishops demand access to asylum at the border “be fully restored.”

The statement expressed concern over the “fear of immigration enforcement” deterring Catholics from worship. Calling for the protection of “sensitive locations,” the bishops said they want to ensure Catholics are not denied Mass or the sacraments. One day after taking office for his second term, Trump rescinded policies protecting “sensitive locations” including churches, schools, and hospitals from immigration enforcement.

The bishops also emphasized that immigration enforcement “not focus on those who are contributing to the nation.” They also said “immigrant families should be kept together” to ensure that “the separation of families, which can have detrimental effects on the family unit, is minimized by allowing them, to the greatest extent possible, to remain together in the U.S.”

“Due process should be restored in the immigration system,” and “the use of tactics to intimidate and create fear in the community should be halted,” the bishops wrote. They specifically detailed that the use of masks by enforcement officers, random stops without probable cause, roving patrols, and physical abuse of immigrants and others must be stopped. Such tactics “can intimidate immigrants” and may “prevent them from asserting their rights.”

“Detention standards should be enforced and vulnerable groups should not be detained,” they said. Many facilities “are being built in remote locations, incarcerating immigrants in substandard conditions and in some cases without access to appropriate medical care and religious services.”

A detainee in Illinois testified he spent six days in a federal immigration facility before a judge ordered bedding, three meals a day, free water, and hygiene products. The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly said allegations of subprime conditions at facilities are false.

The bishops urged Congress and the administration to “fund reintegration programs for deportees” to “mitigate the root causes of irregular migration … as well as to invest in reintegration programs to ensure that immigrants can safely and humanely reintegrate into their original homes and support themselves and their families in dignity.”

“As always, we stand ready to work with them to create an immigration system which ensures public safety, protects human rights, encourages economic growth and justice, and upholds our heritage as a nation of immigrants,” they concluded.

The USCCB approved a special message in November 2025 that expressed unified opposition to “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.” The message was approved 216-5.