Vatican’s Newspaper Rebukes Gov. Abbott Over Immigration Measures

VATICAN (ChurchMilitant.com) – The Vatican’s newspaper is denouncing Texas’ Catholic governor over his measures to secure the southern border. 

In Tuesday’s edition of L’Osservatore Romano, the front-page story blasted Gov. Greg Abbott’s installation of buoys and razor wire along the border, alongside the alleged mistreatment of illegal migrants.

“Beyond the political debate, the emergency is humanitarian,” wrote Isabella Piro, who described “the drama of hundreds of exhausted people camped out at Eagle Pass and denied even a sip of water. The horror of four-year-olds passed out from heat and exhaustion. The tragedy of a pregnant girl who miscarried because she got entangled in barbed wire.”

In July, Gov. Abbott published a string of tweets declaring Texas’ right to protect its borders, blaming the crisis on President Biden. “Texas has the sovereign authority to defend our border, under the U.S. Constitution and the Texas Constitution.” He added, “Texas is stepping up to address this crisis. We will continue to deploy every strategy to protect Texans and Americans — and the migrants risking their lives. We will see you in court, Mr. President.” 

The write-up also references a July statement by the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, which declared:

These reports stir our hearts again for the plight of our sisters and brothers who are seeking a better life. These mothers, fathers, children and others are doing what anyone would do to find a better life. They have moved to secure honest work and a safe community. The fact that they were born in a place which could not provide these basic human rights does not give anyone the right to treat them inhumanely.

“For decades, the United States’ migration policies have failed to address sufficiently the root causes of migration. They have failed to uphold our country’s principle to welcome all who seek a life free of tyranny,” the bishops continued.

While cities across the United States continue to suffer the consequences of overcrowding and rising crime, the bishops never seem to have to suffer any consequences due to the border crisis. In fact, the USCCB and other Catholic NGOs, like Catholic Charities USA, continue to rake in billions from the federal government due to illegal immigration. 

The secular media, thanks in part to the July 20 Deposit of Faith press conference, has begun taking note of this duplicity among the bishops. The Stream recently reported, “Those [Catholic] agencies received a total of $3.053 billion between 2008 and 2022. During that period, Catholic Charities collected $1.86 billion, while the USCCB got $1.113 billion in direct federal grants, the fifth-largest total among all agencies. From that $1.113 billion, the USCCB gave $586 million to Catholic Charities.”

As previously reported, “The USCCB’s 2021 annual financial statement reveals the bishops received over $67 million from ‘government contracts and grants’ for ‘migration and refugee services.'”

On Aug. 21, the Center for Immigration Studies assessed the daunting July numbers released by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. The report revealed, “Last month, border patrol agents at the Southwest border apprehended more than 132,652 illegal entrants at the Southwest border. That was a 33.3% increase over June (when agents apprehended 99,539 illegal entrants at the U.S.–Mexico line).” 

“U.S. agents made more than 130,000 arrests along the Mexico border last month, preliminary figures show, up from 99,545 in June,” The Washington Post reported on August 1. “Authorities allowed an additional 50,000 migrants to cross into the United States in July, primarily through Biden administration programs allowing asylum seekers to schedule appointments at U.S. ports of entry using the CBP One mobile application.”

The CIS proceeded to break down the three types of migrants tracked at the border. “The number of single adults whom agents nabbed in July was just ever-so-slightly higher than in June — 62,446 compared to 61,537 — a modest 1.5% increase.” In terms of families, “the number of family-unit apprehensions nearly doubled in July from the previous month, to more than 60,000 FMUs compared to just over 31,000 in June.” For “unaccompanied alien children,” the number “increased by nearly 50% in July compared to a month before.”

The author then reminded readers of then-Vice President Joe Biden in 2014 discouraging families from sending their children alone with outside individuals to guide them to the United States:

These smugglers — and everyone should know it, and not turn a blind eye to it — these smugglers routinely engage in physical and sexual abuse and extortion of these innocent, young women and men by and large. And they profit from the misery of these children and teenagers, these desperate, desperate young people.

CIS went on by breaking down the number of “inadmissible aliens” recently apprehended at ports of entry. “In July, CBP officers in the agency’s Office of Field Operations encountered nearly 51,000 inadmissible applicants for admission,” CIS revealed. That number is “a 13% increase over June, which had been the worst month for Southwest border port encounters in history, and a 177% increase over July 2022.” Of that number, a reported 35% were Mexican nationals, while approximately 10,000 were Haitians.

The report further explains the surge in illegal migrants that was made possible by Biden’s CLAP rule and CBP One app. The author claims, “The Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule is ‘half-hearted’ and ‘ersatz’ because it’s subject to numerous ‘exceptions’ (which USCIS has summarized in a ‘fact sheet‘ for the smugglers’ convenience) and because a presumption therein that illegal entrants aren’t eligible for asylum can be easily rebutted.”

Sheena Rodriguez

“Foreign nationals in central and northern Mexico can download the CBP One app and schedule an appointment at a port of entry, ostensibly to make an asylum claim,” the article continued. 

“They will then receive a date to appear at a given port, and are allowed to show up at any point during a 23-hour period.” From there, the illegal aliens can be paroled into the United States.

Sheena Rodriguez, president of the Alliance for a Safe Texas, spoke at the DOF July press conference about the complicity of the U.S. bishops, especially Catholic Charities USA, in the border crisis:

Catholic Charities and the Conference of Catholic Bishops displayed strong public opposition against the recent congressional Secure the Border Act of 2023, along with continued opposition against the building of the southern wall and any efforts that they perceive or categorize as “restricting asylum,” claiming that it would “cause the United States to violate its international obligations.

Even liberal voters have had to face the music on mass migration’s destruction of cities. In a recent Siena College poll of New Yorkers, “82% of voters found the migrant situation that has plagued the state since May to be a serious problem, with a slim majority — 54% — calling it ‘very serious.'”