Kidnappings in Mexico have become a true plague, with many migrants falling victims as criminal groups and drug cartels -- often in cahoots with police, soldiers and immigration officials -- target people without papers. Victims are often abducted while riding intercity buses,
The drownings of three Mexican migrants in the Rio Grande has deepened a jurisdictional dispute between the U.S. federal and Texas state governments over responding to the wave of migrants and asylum-seekers irregularly crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
But a Dominican brother working on
As immigration shapes up to become a key election issue in 2024, the church must remain steadfast in its advocacy for migrants, Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, told OSV News.
Dozens of House Republicans, led by House Speaker Mike Johnson,
In fiscal year 2023 (Oct. 1, 2022-Sept. 30, 2023), U.S. Customs and Border Protection saw almost 2.48 million encounters at the nation's southwest land border, up from close to 2.38 million in the previous fiscal year.
Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, signed an immigration bill into law Dec. 18 that makes it a state crime for unauthorized migrants to cross into Texas from Mexico. Catholic organizations including the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops have opposed the legislation.
The White House has signaled it is open to making some concessions to congressional Republicans on border policy in order to pass an emergency spending bill to provide billions of dollars in wartime aid to Ukraine and Israel amid their respective conflicts.
For the global faithful accustomed to reports of an ongoing vocations crisis, the Vatican's March 2023 announcement that the worldwide number of seminarians, priests, and men and women in religious orders has declined was hardly a surprise.
But in a particularly unwelcome revelation
Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, is expected to sign an immigration bill that would make it a state crime to cross into Texas from Mexico. Catholic organizations including the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops have opposed the legislation.
The bill, Senate Bill 4, was
Celebrating an outdoor Mass in a camp for migrants amid a cold and unrelenting rain, Jesuit Father Brian Strassburger preached patience. He spoke of "The Parable of the Ten Virgins" from the Gospel of Matthew, urging the assembled migrants to "wait well"
Sister Norma, a Missionary of Jesus, has become the face of the Catholic response to migrants in the Rio Grande Valley, where she leads Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Brownsville -- though she's quick to credit her staff, priests and religious,