Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, auxiliary bishop of Seattle and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, called upon the Obama administration on July 2 to reconsider its request to Congress for “fast track” authority to expedite the removal of unaccompanied children fleeing violence in Central America. “This is a very vulnerable population, which has been targeted by organized crime networks in Central America,” said Bishop Elizondo. “To return them to these criminal elements without a proper adjudication of their cases is unconscionable.” Speaking before the House Judiciary Committee on June 25, Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Tex., urged Congress to respond to the problem of unaccompanied minors at the border as if it were a humanitarian crisis, not an immigration control problem. He suggested an interagency response, more funding for processing and placing unaccompanied migrants and an approach that seeks to pursue the best interests of individual children according to international humanitarian standards.
