Catholic Diocese Tucson

8 CATHOLIC OUTLOOK JANUARY 2020 Catholic leaders decry ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy By MICHAEL BROWN Managing Editor Catholic leaders decried an expansion of the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which includes relocating migrants currently biding their time in the Tucson area back to border towns in Texas for transport back into Mexico. The current policy “does not provide pro- tection to these most vulnerable people and in fact has placed them in significant danger in cities that cannot adequately assist them,” wrote Tucson Bishop Edward J. Weisenburger in a statement released Dec. 2. The bishop’s statement was issued a day before the Tucson City Council unanimously a memorial calling on federal officials to “sus- pend the implementation of the Migrant Pro- tection Protocols (MPP),” a policy announced in January 2019 that forced asylum-seekers in the US to remain in Mexico while their appli- cations were being processed. Although US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) successfully implemented the MPPs along most of the southern US border, Ari- zona was seen as weak on enforcement, with a spike of asylum applications at a time when other ports of entry showed a decline. On Nov. 22, CBP began taking busloads of asylum-seekers who had already filed their applications from Tucson to El Paso, Texas, to be subsequently transported to Ciudad Juarez, located just over the international boundary. In his statement, the bishop argued that the conditions in Ciudad Juarez and other border cities were “inhumane,” especially for vulner- able populations like children, families and pregnant women. “The conditions in these cities include inad- equate sanitary facilities where 2,500 people have access to only three portable toilets, preg- nant women being given one bottle of water per day (and) families and children living in makeshift tents on sidewalks,” the bishop said. “In addition to the inhumane conditions in which the people must remain, they are sub- ject to extortion and kidnapping by cartels and gangs - 364 rapes and assaults have been reported in one city - and daily threats of vio- lence when the family has no money to pay the extortion.” Instead, the government should allow local groups, including Catholic Community Servic- es, which runs the Casa Alitas shelter, to assist the asylum-seekers, he added. “In this most recent year, we assisted 20,000 people, primarily families with children, while they journeyed to meet their sponsors and participate in the legal process to be granted asylum. All people assisted at Casa Alitas are provided medical screening, clothing, food, assistance with transportation, a clean bed and a safe place to recover from the trauma of an arduous journey. Few if any of these resources are available in Juarez. Instead of care, con- cern and dignity, these same families are being pushed into the street facing danger and the uncertainty if and when they will be given to opportunity to present their case to an immi- gration official,” the bishop said. As for CBP assurances that vulnerable groups will not be touched, “there is reason to believe this policy has not been adequately implemented and that many of these most vul- nerable people are living in the streets in the city of Juarez where (Tucson asylum-seekers) will be taken.” Several days earlier, the Kino Border Ini- tiative, run by Jesuit Father Sean Carroll and with facilities in Nogales, Sonora, and Nogales, Arizona, issued a similar statement condemning the expansion. “CBP is intentionally transferring people away from places where services exist and placing thousands of asylum-seekers in harm’s way, exposing them to suffering and danger, and blocking them from seeking safety. This expansion of Remain in Mexico is another of the Trump administration’s many systematic attempts to block an individual’s right to seek asylum. The violations against asylum must be ended decisively and immediately,” it said. The organization’s statement noted that because of partnerships with local groups, asylum-seekers in Arizona are much more likely to have legal assistance during their ad- judication hearings, a factor that exponentially increases their chance of success. “In contrast, only 1 % of people subject to