National Catholic Reporter features CTA on pandemic, immigration

Call To Action/USA held a regional meeting in the Rio Grande Valley in November 2019, where about 50 Catholics gathered to learn about the migrant experience first-hand. "Participants were invited to use the experience to ground their immigration justice efforts in their hometowns in useful, informed solidarity with the center of the immigration struggle," Zachary Johnson, executive director of Call To Action/USA said in an email. (Ruby Fuentes)

IN NCR TODAY:

Ruby Fuentes, a member of a local chapter of the Catholic reform organization Call To Action, visits migrants there and said many community members and organizations have stepped up to accompany their migrant neighbors But individuals living in Matamoros remain vulnerable.

"There's no way to prevent coronavirus spreading in this kind of confined space," Fuentes said. " 'Remain in Mexico' [policy] was a slow death sentence to begin with — and the U.S. government is complicit. But now coronavirus is going to speed up that process. As U.S. citizens we're safe within our walls — but asylum seekers, [in Matamoros] all they have is a piece of fabric."

Concern for the health of undocumented people in federal detention centers in the United States has increased after a handful of guards and immigrants have tested positive for COVID-19. Former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Sandweg is calling for the release of all immigrants in detention, as are the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and some Latino Christian leaders. Approximately 40,000 people are currently detained across the U.S.

El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz joined the Hope Border Institute, which ministers to immigrants at the border, and other local leaders in calling for the immediate release of migrants in detention centers.

"The vast majority of migrants in ICE custody have committed no crime at all and represent no threat to our community," said an April 7 statement from the Hope Border Institute. "However, the continued mass detention of migrants and asylum seekers in these facilities in this time of COVID-19 pandemic represents a clear and present danger to the health of migrants, border enforcement personnel and the entire El Paso community."

Zachary Johnson, executive director of Call To Action/USA, called detention a "sin in every circumstance," in an email interview.

Call To Action/USA held a regional meeting in the Rio Grande Valley last November, where about 50 Catholics gathered to learn about the migrant experience first-hand.

"The Catholic response at all times is to center the corporal and spiritual needs of marginalized people — to the point where we marginalize ourselves," Johnson said. "In crisis, this means using personal and institutional wealth, power and privilege to empower the margins to move out of harm's way."