USCCB committee chairman rues President Trump’s prioritization of Afrikaners in refugee admissions
November 03, 2025
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CWN Editor's Note: Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on Migration, criticized President Donald Trump’s executive order granting Afrikaners from South Africa priority treatment in refugee admissions.
“We cannot turn a blind eye to the disparate treatment of refugees currently taking place,” the prelate said. “As exemptions are considered” to this year’s refugee ceiling of 7,500, “it is essential that they be applied consistently and without discrimination on the basis of race, religion, or national origin, in accordance with longstanding domestic and international norms.”
Bishop Seitz added:
Resettlement tainted by the perception of unjust discrimination is contrary to Catholic teaching and quintessential American values, grounded in our Constitution and refugee laws, including the equality of every person from the moment of their creation by God.The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.
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Posted by: feedback -
Today 9:12 AM ET USA
"It is essential that exemptions be applied consistently..." The very nature of emergency exemptions is that they do not follow longstanding norms. The Afrikaners are under the danger of extermination based on their race alone. Bp Seitz seems to imply that some people could be the "wrong race" to care about. He gained his fame for taking a knee while holding a "BLM" sign during the George Floyd riots. https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=46614
