Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Washington (Agenzia Fides) – A sentence dated 24 July issued by Judge Dolly Gee of the Federal District Court of California ordering the Obama administration to release families fleeing violence in Central America and detained in the US, has been warmly welcomed by Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, auxiliary of Seattle and chairman of the Migration Commission of the USCCB, the United States Catholic Bishops Conference.
The administration had launched a policy of detention for such families (young mothers with children) as a means of discouraging other such families from emigrating to the United States.
"I warmly welcome the court decision and urge the Administration to act swiftly ", said Bishop Elizondo on 27 July. "I welcome the decision which will prevent the prolongation of a wrong and unjust policy treating vulnerable persons as criminals."
In the first months of this year Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio; Bishop James Tamayo of Laredo, Texas; and Bishop Elizondo visited the families at the detention centre in Dilley, Texas, where and they requested the release of the detained families and the use of measures alternative to detention. (see Fides 27/03/2015).
(CE) (Agenzia Fides, 29/07/2015)
