Apr 11th, Independent Catholic News
EL PASO, Texas – Just days into the second term of US President Donald Trump, millions of Americans watched live as his administration went on the attack against the country’s Catholic hierarchy over its objections to Trump’s plan for mass deportations of immigrants and refugees, legal and illegal alike.
While apparently directed at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the individual who lies squarely in the crosshairs of the administration’s attack plan is Bishop of El Paso Mark J Seitz, the elected chair of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration and Refugees.
It was Bishop Seitz, two days after Trump signed a flurry of executive orders overriding existing laws and federal government policies on immigration, who issued a response on behalf of the USCBB saying the orders appeared “specifically intended to eviscerate humanitarian protections enshrined in federal law and undermine due process, subjecting vulnerable families and children to grave danger.”
The next day, Seitz led the heads of the Catholic Health Association of the United States and Catholic Charities USA in criticizing Trump’s rescinding of the government’s long-standing guidance for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to refrain from conducting raids and making arrests in schools, places of worship, hospitals and other sensitive locations.
michaeltangeman.com 