The Immigration Crisis Is Not About Immigrants

STEWARDS OF OUR EARTH

All of God’s Creation

Social Justice Committee, Holy Cross Parish, Mt. Airy, February 1, 2026

In January 2025, “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was holding roughly 40,000 people in a national network of detention centers on any given day. In just one year, this number has increased by over 75%, with a record 73,000 people being held in detention as of mid-January…. [There is also] a 2,450% increase in the number of people with no criminal record held in ICE detention on any given day. [And this increase is happening with virtually no transparency or accountability.] 

Detention conditions are getting worse, and we are seeing the highest number of deaths in detention in two decades. Members of Congress have a critical role to play right now. They have the authority to conduct in-person oversight visits to detention centers. When they do, they help expose the reality of these facilities to their constituents and the public at large.”  Take action now and ask your members of Congress to visit detention centers and oppose the expansion of immigration detention. (American Immigration Council, 1/25/26)

Last November “the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a Special Message on immigration, the first such action in 12 years. In brief, the statement expresses open opposition to the dehumanizing policies and practices present in the U.S., naming mass deportation as violence and encouraging all people to support immigrants in meeting their basic needs. It was approved by nearly 98% of the bishops.” (Mercy Justice Team, Immigration Action Alert, 11/19/25)

The United Nation’s top human rights official, Volker Türk, “expressed concern over the use of large-scale enforcement operations, which have repeatedly applied unnecessary or disproportionate force. International law makes it clear, the UN rights chief stressed, that ‘the intentional use of lethal force is only permissible as a measure of last resort against an individual representing an imminent threat to life…. Demonizing migrants and refugees collectively as criminals, threats, or burdens on society – based on their origin, nationality or migration status – is inhuman, wrong, and it goes against the very fabric and foundations of the nation.’” (Kielce Gussie, Vatican News, 1/24/26)

Congress is currently in the process of deciding funding for key immigration and refugee agencies and programs for the coming year. Please send a message to Congress to block provisions that harm our neighborhoods, to fulfill their oversight responsibilities, and to invest in programs that uplift our immigrant and refugee neighbors, coworkers, and loved ones.

We must seek ways of treating people with humanity, with the dignity that is theirs. … When [migrants] have lived good lives [in the United States]—many of them for 10, 15, 20 years—treating them in a way that is, to say the least, extremely disrespectful, and with instances of violence, is troubling. —Pope Leo XIV, informal press briefing at Castel Gandolfo, 18 Nov 2025

Comments on this column may be directed to the Social Justice Committee at socialjustice@holycrossphl.org. Click here for column archive.