But the number of undocumented Central Americans in the country is increasing — from 1.5 million in 2007 to 1.9 million in 2017, according to the Pew Research Center.

“Deploying 6,000 National Guard troops on the southern border is not a root solution that addresses the true causes of the migration phenomenon,” Mexico's bishops wrote. “The fight against poverty and inequality in Mexico and Central America seems to be replaced by fear of the other, our brother.”

In a country where the Hispanic community is dispersed and Latin American restaurants and organizations are few, Notre Dame aux Riches Claires is the go-to gathering place for migrants and refugees who want to be reminded of home.

We do not join with one another to be politically correct or to celebrate diversity. We do so because we believe that salvation is communal.

The path to building an inclusive society is one where every person is seen as a brother or sister and “where the weak, the poor and the least are no longer seen as undesirables that keep the ‘machine’ from functioning,” the pope said on May 31, the first day of his visit to Romania.

In an interview on Mexican television that first got attention for his comments about former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Pope Francis condemned Donald Trump’s “cruel” immigration policies, delivering a sharp rebuke to a president whose anti-immigrant rhetoric has defined his time in office.