AMERICA/UNITED STATES - The denunciation of Bishops after the visit in Texas: "Why imprison the most vulnerable?"

Olinda and Recife (Agenzia Fides) - "After this visit, my main question is: why? Why imprison these vulnerable people, young and traumatized mothers who, with their children fled from persecution in their own countries?". This is what Mgr. Garcia-Siller, Bishop of San Antonio (Texas) said after March 27 when a group of Catholic Bishops and other religious leaders (Evangelical and Lutheran) visited the Dilley detention center, in Texas (see Fides 27/03/2015).
"A great nation like ours does not need to imprison the most vulnerable as a form of deterrence. The moral character of a society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable. Our policy of detention of families is shameful and I pray institutions to put an end to this practice", he added.
Mgr. Elizondo, President of the Committee on Migration of the United States Conference of Bishops (USCCB), said after the visit: "The detention of families does not make sense. It is particularly harmful to children, who suffer emotional and psychological damage after being arrested".
According to Mgr. James Tamayo, Bishop of Laredo, in Texas, there are alternatives to detention: humanitarian actions that can be used in favor of the people involved.
Since last summer, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has arrested hundreds of families, leading them to detention centers in New Mexico, Texas and Pennsylvania, as a result of the new policy of detention aimed at those fleeing from Central America and illegally cross the border with the United States. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 28/03/2015)