ICE has also come under fire from the American Catholic Church. U.S. bishops Daniel E. Garcia and Brendan J. Cahill denounced the “climate of fear and anxiety” generated by immigration controls and called for laws to be applied “humanely and with respect for fundamental rights.”
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The bishops’ words come at a particularly delicate time for the federal agency, which is at the center of controversy over its use of force during some operations and the new practices adopted towards migrants and their families.
“We are troubled to see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety surrounding issues of profiling and immigration controls,” Garcia and Cahill wrote in a joint pastoral reflection. They lead the Subcommittee on Racial Justice and the Committee on Migration of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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The two religious leaders denounced racial profiling and recalled that “acts that diminish or ignore the dignity of any person or group of people should never be normalized in our society.” While acknowledging the authorities’ role in enforcing immigration laws, the bishops called for this to be done “humanely and with respect for fundamental rights,” invoking greater accountability and transparency.
In the spotlight
In recent weeks, the agency has come under the spotlight for several fatal incidents that occurred during control operations. Since the beginning of Donald Trump’s second term, almost two dozen people have been shot by federal immigration agents, and six have died, including three U.S. citizens. Almost all cases involved people in vehicles. Among the most recent incidents are the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant who had lived in the United States for over thirty years, during a roadside check in Texas, and that of Colombian Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Maine. The administration maintained that the agents acted in self-defense, but the cases have reignited the debate on the use of force in immigration-related police operations.
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