AMERICA/EL SALVADOR - Bishops: migrants should not be criminalized, the underlying causes must be addressed

San Salvador (Agenzia Fides) - "We are worried about the very serious situation in which hundreds of thousands of compatriots currently live in the United States. We think, first of all, of those who are in danger of being expelled and those who are on the border of that Country, in deplorable conditions": this is stated by a declaration of the Bishops' Conference of El Salvador that on Sunday 21 July was made known by the Archbishop of San Salvador, Mgr. José Luis Escobar Alas, during his usual Sunday meeting with journalists. Mgr. Escobar Alas pointed out that the State must design policies focused on solving the migration crisis, as well as the protection and defense of the rights of those who migrate, because it is not right for them to be criminalized. For the Catholic Church, the phenomenon of immigration must be tackled at the base, focusing on the causes that generate it, in particular violence and poverty.
The pronouncement of the Bishops’ Conference was announced while US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is visiting El Salvador. The visit should bring benefits to the population, the Archbishop said.
The Bishops, and the Salvadoran community were particularly touched by the case of Oscar Alberto Martínez and his little daughter Valeria, who drowned while they were trying to cross the Rio Grande, a tragedy captured in a photograph that caused outrage worldwide. "We are deeply concerned about the situation of children who suffer all types of abuse in detention centers and, above all, the separation of their parents. This situation can cause irreparable psychological damage", the Bishops added in their statement.
El Salvador appeared on the front pages of newspapers because of the phenomenon of emigration towards the United States, where migrants died at the southern border of this country. In addition, the American press has just announced that the Trump administration will expand the expedited removal program nationwide which currently applies only within 100 miles of the border. A memorandum from the Department of National Security (DHS), published yesterday Monday July 22 in the federal register, reveals that the expulsion of immigrants declared inadmissible in the United States will be dramatically accelerated.
The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, recently said that, according to statistics provided by the US government, the caravans of migrants consist of 40% of Hondurans, another 40% of Guatemalans, 8 or 9 % from migrants from other countries and only 11% from Salvadorans. It is estimated that over 2.5 million Salvadorans live in the United States, of whom 179,000 have temporary protection status (TPS). The last extension of the TPS will expire in September 2019. (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 23/7/2019)

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