U.S. bishops demand justice and transparency following migrant deaths in ICE custody

U.S. Bishops Daniel E. García and Brendan J. Cahill lamented the deaths of migrants that occurred during recent immigration enforcement operations and called for “accountability, transparency, and justice.”

García, chair of the Subcommittee on the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and Cahill, chair of the Committee on Migration, issued a pastoral reflection following “several recent immigration enforcement encounters resulting in the loss of life.”

In Houston on July 7, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and killed Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araújo during an operation. On July 13, Colombian national Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero died after being shot by a federal agent in Maine.

In both cases, the U.S. government maintains that the agents acted in self-defense.

In their joint reflection, the prelates said that Catholics “grieve all situations where human life is brought to an unnatural end.”

“This is a core teaching of our faith and one we can never grow weary of proclaiming as disciples of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” they noted.

The bishops recalled the statement issued by…