Bishop: ‘It’s inhumane to deliberately separate mothers from their children as a policy’

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The San Diego Diocese is seeking a way to shelter asylum-seekers so they can remain with their children, according to Bishop Robert McElroy who celebrated a binational Mass June 9 at the U.S.-Mexico border.

McElroy said the diocese is answering the Trump administration policy of separating children from parents who seek asylum or enter illegally by “opening up a program that will try to take in mothers who come here and are granted the first level of asylum, so that we can try to keep mothers with their children, rather than being separated.”

The San Diego bishop added: “I think it’s inhumane to deliberately separate mothers from their children as a policy.”

The bishop’s comments to Times of San Diego came after a binational Mass in the Friendship Park area of Border Field State Park, sponsored by Border Angels and World Vision.

McElroy and Auxiliary Bishop John Dolan prayed, distributed Communion and listened to a Mass in Spanish in Mexico while bishops from Tijuana, Nuevo León and Yucatán spread the message of love to parishioners across the border.

Dolan summed up his feelings this way:

Dolan said “of course” every country has a right to defend its borders.

“That’s the church’s understanding,” he said. “But we understand, too, that sometimes we can be overly aggressive in this area. And this is no small thing.”

Despite the clash of ideologies, Dolan said, “We need to step up our level of compassion as human beings for those on both sides of the border. … We are talking about human beings, with bodies and souls and minds and hearts like everyone else. “

Meanwhile, a leading senator was defending the policy of separating parents and children who enter the country illegally:

Sen. Ted Cruz defended the Trump administration’s policy of separating parents from children when they’re caught crossing the border illegally, saying that while such cases can be tragic, it’s “inevitable” when people violate U.S. law.

“There’s actually a court order that prevents keeping the kids with the parents when you put the parents in jail. So when you see reporters, when you see Democrats saying don’t separate kids from their parents, what they’re really saying is don’t arrest illegal aliens,” Cruz told KERA, the Dallas public radio station, in an interview that aired Monday afternoon.

Cruz’s comments come as Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued an order barring claims that a migrant is fleeing domestic abuse or gang violence as the basis for an asylum claim — a shift in U.S. policy that prompted a fresh uproar and allegations of cruelty by the Trump administration.

The “zero tolerance” policy that has led to family separations has been controversial since Sessions announced it last month. Thousands of families have been affected, with condemnation pouring in from south of the border and across the world, and from Democrats.

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