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Post by Biff »

Wosbald wrote: 20 Feb 2023, 12:03 +JMJ+
Biff wrote: 20 Feb 2023, 11:49
Del wrote: 20 Feb 2023, 10:41 [update] Tuesday noon: They have a suspect in custody for shooting of Bishop O'Connell. No other details yet.
Wisconsin is 24 hours ahead?
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That's the first Wosbald post I've smiled at. Oh great, now I have an ear worm.
Here I stand. I can do no other. :flags-wavegreatbritain: :flags-canada:
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Post by Del »

Biff wrote: 20 Feb 2023, 11:49
Del wrote: 20 Feb 2023, 10:41 [update] Tuesday noon: They have a suspect in custody for shooting of Bishop O'Connell. No other details yet.
Wisconsin is 24 hours ahead?
You weren't supposed to read that until tomorrow.
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Post by Del »

Wosbald wrote: 20 Feb 2023, 12:03 Image
Ghey.
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+JMJ+

Catholic immigration advocates condemn proposed Biden border rule

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A family from Ecuador walks towards Border Patrol officers in Eagle Pass, Texas, Dec. 19, 2022, to seek asylum. (OSV News photo/Jordan Vonderhaar, Reuters)

The Biden administration Feb. 21 proposed its most restrictive border control measure to date, announcing it plans to issue a temporary rule blocking asylum-seekers who cross the border without authorization or who do not first apply for protections in other nations before coming to the United States. Catholic immigration advocates condemned the proposal.

The proposed rule would introduce a "presumption of asylum ineligibility for certain noncitizens" and instead “encourage migrants to avail themselves of lawful, safe and orderly pathways into the United States," according to the text of the document. Otherwise, it said that migrants should "seek asylum or other protection in countries through which they travel, thereby reducing reliance on human smuggling networks that exploit migrants for financial gain."

U.S. immigration policy generally differentiates those fleeing persecution in other countries from other migrants who cross the border unlawfully. The proposal, which the administration has characterized as temporary, would scale back that approach.

The move comes as Republicans have made immigration and border security a key point of contention with the Biden administration, and as the primary cycle for the November 2024 presidential election begins in earnest. Biden, a Catholic Democrat, is widely expected to seek a second term in the White House.

The proposed rule will first be subject to a 30-day public comment period before it could be formally implemented.

The U.S. bishops, however, voiced concern the rule would impose punitive restrictions on the right to seek asylum at the U.S.–Mexico border. In a statement, Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration, said the USCCB is "deeply troubled by this proposal, which perpetuates the misguided notion that heavy-handed enforcement measures are a viable solution to increased migration and forced displacement."

"Decades of similar approaches have demonstrated otherwise," Seitz said. The El Paso bishop said the U.S. bishops have recognized "our country's right to maintain its borders," but have "consistently rejected policies that weaken asylum access for those most in need of relief and expose them to further danger."

"Because that is the likely result of this proposal, we strongly oppose its implementation," Seitz said.

He added that while the USCCB appreciates the administration's "desire to expand lawful pathways to the United States, especially through increased refugee processing," he emphasized those efforts should not take place "at the expense of vulnerable persons urgently seeking protection at our border."

"Above all, the sanctity of human life remains paramount," he said.

Biden administration officials, however, said the proposed rule would incentivize lawful migration.

[…]

Other Catholic immigration advocates, however, joined with the USCCB in sharply criticizing the proposal.

"The ban unfairly targets those fleeing from northern Central American countries, for whom the administration has provided no parole options," Dylan Corbett, executive director of the Hope Border Institute, said.

"There is nothing but a lack of courage preventing this administration from taking positive steps now to repudiate the damage of the previous administration and finally put in place a functioning, safe, rights-respecting system at the border that works for asylum-seekers and our border communities," he said.

Anna Gallagher, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., or CLINIC, said, “In continuing with this rule, the Biden administration is betraying its own commitment to uphold asylum, as well as violating the principles of U.S. law and Catholic social teaching with respect to migration."

CLINIC compared the proposed rule to an “asylum ban" issued by the Trump administration, which was later struck down by a federal court.

"The right to seek asylum through a full and fair process is a bedrock principle of international and domestic law," Gallagher said. "These new restrictions undermine that right and will have inhumane and horrific consequences for our immigrant brothers and sisters."

Ronnate Asirwatham, director of government relations at Network, a Catholic social justice lobby, said the Biden administration was "ending the right to seek asylum on our southern border."

"(The) success of our southern border," Asirwatham said, "should not be measured by the number of people we turn away to death and persecution, but by the number of people we welcome to safety."


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Post by Del »

Wosbald wrote: 24 Feb 2023, 11:00 +JMJ+

Catholic immigration advocates condemn proposed Biden border rule

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"Decades of similar approaches [heavy-handed enforcement measures] have demonstrated otherwise," Seitz said. The El Paso bishop said the U.S. bishops have recognized "our country's right to maintain its borders," but have "consistently rejected policies that weaken asylum access for those most in need of relief and expose them to further danger."
I don't know what Biden's long game is.

This policy will not end the strangers appearing at our border, nor take control away from the cartels and coyotes, nor stop the traffic of fentanyl.

Fishwrap will never report on just policies proposed by Republicans, of course. My favorite is to permit asylum seekers to apply at the US Embassy, buy a plane ticket, and fly safely to America.... where they can be matched with suitable sponsors, and set up for thriving in America. This would be much cheaper for migrants than paying the cartels/coyotes, meanwhile enduring rape, kidnapping and dangerous travel, for an uncertain outcome at our border.

But this policy comes with walls and powerful defenses at our border -- which liberals have demonized as some sort of bad thing. I still want Trump's original policy: "A big, beautiful wall with a big, wide door."
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Deadly Italy shipwreck throws migration issue back into the spotlight

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Italian Red Cross volunteers and coast guards recover a body after a migrant boat broke apart in rough seas, at a beach near Cutro, southern Italy, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. (Credit: Antonino Durso/LaPresse via AP)

ROME — A deadly shipwreck on the Calabrian coast over the weekend which has so far left nearly 60 people dead with dozens of others missing has elicited outcry from both church and civil leaders, as well as renewed calls for a revised European migration policy.

Speaking at the end of his Sunday Angelus address, Pope Francis said he was pained to learn about the shipwreck and its many victims, several of whom are children, and offered prayers “for each one of them, for the missing, and for the survivors.”

He thanked those engaged in rescue efforts and those who have welcomed the survivors, asking that the Virgin Mary “support these brothers and sisters of ours.”

Likewise, in a statement, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna and president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), voiced “sadness and acute pain” at what he said was “the umpteenth shipwreck that occurred on our coasts.”

“The victims belong to all of us, and we feel them to be ours,” he said, and lamented the growing death toll, saying the incident is a reminder that “the question of migrants and refugees must be faced with responsibility and humanity.”

“We cannot repeat the words that we have wasted on tragic events similar to this one, which in 20 years have made the Mediterranean into a great cemetery,” Zuppi said, saying national and collective European policies are needed, “with a new determination and with the awareness that not making them allows similar situations to repeat themselves. “

Zuppi said the “clock of history” cannot be turned backward, and insisted that now is the time for real international awareness and called for “a structural, shared, and supportive approach among institutions and countries” to the migration issue.

The statements came after the sinking of a ship attempting to land near Crotone early Sunday morning. At least 59 migrants, including 12 children, one of whom was an infant, have died, and dozens more are feared missing.

According to Italian officials, the boat apparently broke apart after crashing against rocks during rough weather, prompting a massive search and rescue operation in the area.

Bodies were reportedly recovered from a seaside resort nearby. Coastguard officials have said that 80 people have been found alive, some of whom managed to swim to shore after the ship, which sailed from Turkey several days ago, broke apart.

Though the exact number of people on board is not clear, however, migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Iran were among the passengers. Rescue workers say there could have been up to 200 people on board, meaning as many as 60 people could still be missing.

Some of the survivors were taken to the hospital, while others sat huddled under blankets and were being attended to by Red Cross workers. One survivor, according to customs police, was arrested on trafficking charges.

The tragedy was among the worst migrant crossing incidents that has happened in the area, and it has drawn widespread reaction from among Italy’s political leadership.

[…]

Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, former head of the Vatican’s Council for Culture, also weighed in on the tragedy, sending a tweet quoting Brazilian lyricist and novelist, saying, “When a stranger approaches and we confuse him our brother, and all conflicts disappear, that is the moment when night ends and day begins.”


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Bishop Seitz on Biden’s new asylum policy: Death cannot be the cost of our immigration laws

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Bishop Mark J. Seitz of the Catholic Diocese of El Paso (Credit: Ruben R. Ramirez / El Paso Times File)

In 1937, the Russian mystic, priest and refugee Sergei Bulgakov wrote provocatively that the church “must always remain in relation to the state an anarchic force.”

Having been forced into exile by the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, Bulgakov could be forgiven his rhetorical excess. He went to Paris, where he would become one of the brightest theological minds of the century. Many of his countrymen were able to cross borders in Europe and Latin America as refugees before ultimately building a future in the United States.

For many people at or near the U.S.–Mexico border today, affected by the reality of forced migration, an opportunity like that might soon be impossible.

In May, President Biden’s new asylum transit ban is set to go into effect. While there are exceptions, the ban unnecessarily places onerous hurdles before migrants obliged to pass through multiple countries on their way to the United States. It is temporary, but it is not difficult to imagine the policy being extended when it expires in two years. The ban’s overall effect will be to further diminish the rights of vulnerable persons on the move at the border.

The new policy will increase burdens on neighboring countries, like Mexico, that are already wrestling with displacement due to violence and instability. And we can expect an increase in both the exploitation of migrants by traffickers and migrant deaths, now at record levels, which occur whenever legal pathways at the border are restricted.

The administration will provide temporary entry to a limited number of individuals from Latin America. But those options are not connected to asylum, which is what the most vulnerable coming to the border are hoping to access. And the administration has not provided those options for those fleeing northern Central American countries, perpetuating a longstanding pattern of discriminatory policies in that region. A policy that leads to adverse outcomes because of the national origin of those in need is indefensibly regressive.

There was hope that after the damaging immigration policies of the previous administration, the Biden administration would redress the wrongs done and begin putting into place policies more consistent with justice, human dignity and the longstanding contributions of migrants to American life.

Some of the worst policies have been rolled back, even as congressional inaction remains an intractable obstacle to passing broader reforms. But in many instances, the administration’s actions have been tepid and fear-driven and, in the case of the asylum transit ban, harmful.

In my work as a bishop in a border diocese, this is an urgent pastoral issue. In the river that runs alongside my community and defines our border with Mexico, too many mothers and fathers and children continue to drown. And even more are dying in the desert as a result of our national indifference.

Government must regulate the border and guarantee the rights of asylum seekers and all vulnerable migrants. Policies that fail to secure protections for the vulnerable are morally deficient. Death simply cannot be an acceptable part of the overhead costs of our immigration policies.

Following the horrific mass displacement of World War II, U.S. leadership was key in developing global protections for refugees and asylum seekers. At a time when innovating and strengthening these protections are required, we are instead chipping away at them, placing asterisks and caveats on the progress we have made.

In this moment of frustration, during our Eastertide eucharistic celebrations, we might reflect with more intention on how our sharing of the transformed gifts of bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ, can generate a culture of renewed solidarity and hospitality. And on how the real liturgy of welcoming the flesh of Christ in the poor and migrant, which finds expression in our works of charity, might provide, perhaps not an “anarchic force,” but a creative counterexample that uproots fear and shows that humanity and compassion are possible.

The only crisis at the border is a moral crisis. And the only failure is one of courage and justice.


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English bishops say UK asylum policy is ‘dramatically lacking’

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Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a press conference following the launch of new legislation on migrant channel crossings at Downing Street, London, Tuesday, March 7, 2023. The U.K. government says it’s ready for legal challenges to a tough new law intended to stop tens of thousands of migrants a year reaching the country in small boats across the English Channel. (Credit: Leon Neal/Pool Photo via AP)

LEICESTER, United Kingdom — As the UK government pushes controversial legislation banning the settlement of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales is calling on policy makers “to recognize migrants and refugees as people.”

In a new document called Love the Stranger [PDF], the bishops offer a list of 24 principles to guide immigration policy, based on “the innate worth of each human person.” The bishops also say, “Nationalist or individualistic tendencies should not be allowed to take hold and prevent us seeing humanity as a single family.”

The document is being released just days after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak introduced the Illegal Migration Bill, which would remove migrants who cross the Channel in small boats from the country and ban them from entering the UK in the future.

“Our starting point as a society must be to recognize migrants and refugees as people. We need to understand their stories, their reasons for leaving their homelands and hopes for building a future here,” said Bishop Paul McAleenan, the Lead Bishop for Migrants and Refugees for the bishops’ conference.

“We should never view people arriving from elsewhere as a political problem to be solved, but rather as brothers and sisters who we have a responsibility towards, and who greatly enrich our communities,” he said.

“People are driven to leave their countries, sometimes making dangerous journeys or risking exploitation, because of conflict, poverty, oppression, or lack of opportunities. Looking beyond our own borders, we have a duty to help people flourish in their homelands, as well as welcoming those who leave in search of a better life,” the bishop continued.

Love the Stranger emphasizes people’s right to migrate, while acknowledging a nation’s right to control its borders.

“However, the acceptability of such measures is limited to circumstances in which they are clearly required to protect the receiving community. Controls on migration should be exercised with compassion, giving special attention to people who need to leave their country in order to flourish and live in dignity,” the document says.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, president of the bishops’ conference, said Love the Stranger draws together more than one hundred years of Catholic teaching to guide the response to migration in the country.

“While it does not propose detailed solutions to complex problems, it clearly calls for procedures which permit safe and controlled access and a fair hearing to those seeking asylum. Present arrangements in this country are dramatically lacking in both of these requirements,” the cardinal said.

According to the BBC, 45,756 migrants crossed the English Channel to Britain in small boats in 2022.

[…]

In Love the Stranger, the bishops also call for the establishment of safe routes, such as resettlement programs and humanitarian corridors, for the passage of refugees.

“It is also important that visa schemes are well managed so that migrants can quickly contribute to the common good of their new communities and so that they and their families are not beset by uncertainty or inhumane conditions,” the document says.

The bishops argue not only would such routes mean migrants would not have to risk their lives at sea, but safe routes would lessen the amount of human trafficking and modern slavery, which “are exacerbated by a lack of accessible alternatives for migration or seeking sanctuary.”

In addition, Love the Stranger calls for the sanctity of life to be prioritized in all border security arrangements and reject measures that unnecessarily place people in danger or deny reasonable assistance to those in need; for the government to avoid the use of immigration detention, arbitrary expulsion and other practices which violate human dignity; and for the fulfilment of obligations under international frameworks protecting migrants and refugees, such as the Refugee Convention, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Global Compact on Refugees, and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

“The Church in England and Wales is fully engaged with public policy relating to migration, the status of refugees, and tackling human trafficking, in order to promote the dignified treatment of all those who come to our country. Catholic social teaching recognizes the dilemmas that governments face but emphasizes that the dignity of each and every human person must come first,” the document says.


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Catholic lawmaker 'deeply troubled' by reports of Biden reinstatement of migrant family detention

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Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-California, accompanied by from left, Rep. Darren Soto, D-Florida, Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-California, Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-California, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-New York, and Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-New Mexico, speaks to members of the media following a meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington on April 25. (AP/Andrew Harnik)

Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York, the nation's lone Black Catholic congressperson, has spoken out on reports that President Joe Biden may soon reinstate Trump-era family detention policies.

The formerly undocumented Afro-Dominican legislator issued a statement on March 7 calling the plans "a reversal of the progress that we have made since the previous administration."

"America is a nation of immigrants, and yet, our system to support immigrants and their families remains broken. … As we work to address this crisis, we must move forward to implement solutions that treat families with humanity," he said.

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Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-New York (Wikimedia Commons/US House of Representatives)

"I encourage the administration to reconsider these actions and will continue my work with my Democratic colleagues to fight for meaningful immigration reform for asylum seekers and the families here in our nation."

Espaillat is one of several Democratic legislators reacting with shock to the new plan from Biden, who had indicated migrant family detention was not his current plan of action to address the increased amount of migrants making their way to the United States.

Various political and humanitarian crises in Latin America had driven their numbers at the southern border up to their highest in over two decades, according to data published in January from Pew Research Center.

[…]

Throughout the back and forth [debating the Migrant Question], many Democrats in Congress have repeatedly stated their support for migrants struggling to make it to the U.S. border. One of the loudest groups pushing back has been the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, of which Espaillat is deputy chair.

The caucus met on March 7 with Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas to express disdain for Biden's recent moves on immigration and the report that family detention might reactivate. Espaillat later called the meeting "productive."

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Migrants detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents after crossing into the United States from Mexico to request asylum get in a vehicle to be transferred to a detention center in El Paso Texas, Dec. 19, 2022. The Biden administration is weighing the reinstatement of a family detention policy for migrants who cross the U.S. border without legal authorization. (OSV News/Reuters/Jose Luis Gonzalez)

Meanwhile, the Biden administration itself has remained mum on the family detention report, with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refusing to confirm or deny what she called "rumors" about whether a policy reversal is truly incoming.

"I'm not saying it's being considered … I'm not saying it is not," she told a press briefing on March 7.

Jean-Pierre also sought to distance the current Biden policies on immigration from those under Trump, a Republican who is currently seeking to return to the presidency with a run in the 2024 election.

″A lot of people have compared what the president is doing [to] what Trump did," she said. "That is not what is happening here."


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