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Prelate: ‘can we not do right by’ unaccompanied migrant children?

August 05, 2014

Writing in The Washington Post, the bishop who chairs the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration said that “if we sacrifice” unaccompanied migrant children “for political expediency, we may end up sacrificing our soul.”

“The debate that came to a head in Washington this week on the unaccompanied children crossing the US-Mexico border can be boiled down to one clear choice: Protect them and give them due process or change the law and send them back to possible death,” wrote Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio Elizondo of Seattle. “While some may disagree with this characterization, the truth is inescapable, as are the life-and-death consequences facing this most vulnerable population.”

“Sadly, Congress and the Obama administration are twisted in knots over a situation that many nations around the world handle as a matter of course,” he continued. “The difference is that other nations receive millions of refugees, not just thousands. Lebanon, for example-- a country of 4.5 million-- has received more than 1 million Syrian refugees in the past two years. Can we not do right by a much smaller population?”

 


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  • Posted by: Louise01 - Aug. 05, 2014 7:25 PM ET USA

    The whole situation is a disgrace. The unlawful exec order by King Obama and endorsed by the USCCB has given the idea that American borders are wide open and they should come now! Some of these illegals are young children but many are older gang members -- all are encouraged by the coyotes at a huge cost. WHERE do these "poor" people get $5,000 to pay the coyotes?? It's been reported that all the girls must take birth control pills daily to avoid pregnancy but that doesn't protect from abuse.

  • Posted by: unum - Aug. 05, 2014 5:50 PM ET USA

    Australia promises illegal refugees that they will receive no benefits and they will be deported in order to stem the tide of illegals entering the country claiming to be refugees but posing a security problem. The bishops, characterization of the immigration situation as a "refugee" problem is an oversimplification that poses a danger to the U.S. and many of those entering our country illegally.