CCUSA president and CEO expresses concern over immigration proposal

Migrants and Refugees

January 29, 2018

Alexandria, Va. — The recent proposal by President Trump detailing a path to citizenship for people who were brought to the United States as young children — many of whom are called Dreamers — was met with some concerns by Sister Donna Markham OP, PhD, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA.

“While we are grateful for the openness of the administration to provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, it is deeply disturbing that this common sense proposal would come at the expense of dividing families,” Sister Markham said.

The president’s proposal would dramatically change legal migration and asylum processes, making it harder for families to stay together and to seek protection when fleeing violence.

“It is deeply problematic that political leaders are increasingly referring to family-based migration as ‘chain migration.’ Families aren’t chains. They are mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, grandmothers, grandfathers and brothers and sisters.

“Recognizing the family as the fundamental unit of society and a critical element of stability and economic prosperity and concurrently dehumanizing and dividing families is a travesty. We ought to support families remaining together rather than separating them,” Sister Markham said.

Catholic Charities USA is the national office for 167 Catholic Charities member agencies throughout the United States and its territories. Since its founding in 1910, Catholic Charities USA has made the effort to bring the voice of the poor and vulnerable — including migrants and refugees — to those in power. The mission of Catholic Charities is to provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire Church and other people of good will to do the same.