Catholic leaders in the United States gathered at the country's southern border between Arizona and Mexico to ask the administration of President Obama and Congress to approve immigration reform to benefit millions of families and undocumented immigrants in the country.
With an act of prayer which gathered hundreds of people on both sides of the border between the U.S. and Mexico, Cardinal Sean O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston, said that the lack of renovation in immigration legislature in the U.S. has created "terrible suffering" in immigrant families, and has caused the loss of human resources which affect the economies of small businesses which depend on the labor of immigrants.
In the company of eight other members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and 17 priests, O'Malley celebrated mass on the border, where he gave communion to people on the Mexican side and who extended their hands through openings on the fence to receive blessings, according to USA Today.
For the American bishop, actions in favor of immigration reform are a moral matter in support of families, who are separated by deportations, and ethical because of the people who die every year in the desert in their attempt to cross into the U.S.
"What we don't remember in this debate is the human aspect of immigration - immigration is mainly about human beings, not economic or social matters," said Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, from the Seattle Archdiocese and President of the Committee of the Conference on Migration.
The support of the Catholic Church in favor of immigration reform is not surprising. Last Thursday, March 27, during a protest in favor of reform in Chicago, 40 people were arrested, among them Methodist bishop Sally Dyck, religious leader who in recent days has shown support for immigrants in the U.S.
In the company of Mexican activist Elvira Arellano and 500 protesters, the bishop marched from Federal Plaza to the offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, without fear of being arrested.
"President Obama has the power to end this moral crisis, but so far he has not shown he has the leadership needed by our communities. I pray that he will find the courage to do so," said Dyck, according to The Huffington Post.
Hours later the detainees were set free; however, Sally Dyck sent a letter to the White House asking President Obama to take actions to change an "unjust law" and end the deportations of undocumented immigrants, calling for solidarity among "God's children" towards immigrants in the U.S.