Initiative launches to support Catholic Church’s ministry to migrants

Catholic research organizations have launched an initiative that aims to organize a “robust response on behalf of migrants and refugees in the country who are living in fear of immediate deportation,” according to organizers.

Catholic IMMpact — the Catholic Immigrant Prophetic Action Project — is a partnership between the Hope Border Institute (HOPE), a faith-based strategy center pursuing justice at the U.S.-Mexico border, and the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS), an institute devoted to the study of international immigration and safeguarding of the dignity and rights of migrants.

“Immigrants who have lived in the country for years and built equities are living in fear and being deported without due process, separating them from their families,” said J. Kevin Appleby, senior fellow for policy and communications at CMS.

“The Church in the U.S. is the one institution positioned to effectively oppose these enforcement tactics, which undermine the basic legal and human rights of our immigrant neighbors, many of whom share a pew with us on Sundays,” he said.

“The initiative is designed to follow up the call of the Holy Father and the U.S. bishops to speak out in the defense of migrants during this period of mass deportation,” he said.

The project follows the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) special message opposing “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.” After the message, Pope Leo XIV asked “people of goodwill to listen carefully to what they said.”

Catholic IMMpact’s action plan

HOPE and CMS will work with dioceses and religious communities as families are “being separated and detained, and as those with legal status are stripped of protection and subjected to deportation without due process, including those with long-term ties to the community,” HOPE and CMS said in an announcement.

The organizations will use community engagement specialists to assist archdioceses, dioceses, and religious communities in organizing public accompaniment, witness, and parish training to help groups show solidarity with immigrants and refugees.

HOPE and CMS will support religious communities in public messaging on behalf of immigrants and refugees, including press events, statements, and talking points. They also plan to assist communities with research on the profiles of immigrants and refugees in their location, as well as the fiscal and social costs of a mass deportation campaign.

“Catholic IMMpact is already working with several bishops and dioceses across the country to ensure that local Catholic communities have concrete plans in place in order to navigate the human and pastoral impacts of the current mass deportation campaign,” said Dylan Corbett, executive director of HOPE.

The launch of Catholic IMMpact is “a concrete way of supporting the Catholic Church in the United States in its outreach and solidarity efforts during this profound moment of fear and challenge for our immigrant brothers and sisters,” he said.

“We’re proud to work collaboratively with the USCCB, Catholic Charities USA, and many other Catholic organizations in making visible the love of Jesus Christ in a very trying moment for families in our parishes and our neighbors who have migrated to this country seeking only to contribute and raise their children with dignity,” Corbett said.

The groups have started conducting a series of regional gatherings with diocesan staff and parish leaders to talk about the Church response to deportations. The next events will take place in Phoenix on March 12 and Detroit on May 6.