The Encuentro Project has welcomed 12 groups from January to May, 2024.
Bishop Mark Seitz attends the Conference on Immigration
Excerpt taken from Rhina Guidos, NCR, April 2024
El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz, left, talks with Peter K. Kilpatrick, president of The Catholic University of America, during a daylong conference on immigration the university hosted with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops April 11 in Washington. (NCR photo/Rhina Guidos)
At the Conference on Immigration by USCCB in April, Bishop Seitz said, portrayals of migrants do not accurately reflect the situation on the ground.
"I don't think it's nearly as overwhelming a situation as it's often painted — 'crisis on the border,' that kind of thing," he said. "But it does call for everyone, the different elements in society, to step up, and if we do, we find the capacity to do amazing things."
Sr. Deirdre Griffin, an immigration attorney and member of the Sisters of St. Joseph, was one of the event's approximately 250 participants. She is currently in ministry at the U.S./Mexico border in El Paso Texas with Maryknoll Lay Missioners. Griffin said she wanted to see a more" “publicly recognizable message" from a wider swath of bishops from around the country in support of immigrants, urging more help "on the ground," in more U.S. parishes.
Seitz said the country has a choice in how to respond to migrants. "This is a key moment, and we will either thrive or not thrive as a nation in the future," he said.
The Situation on the Border
In February 2024, Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Annunciation House, a nongovernmental organization, to revoke their registration to operate in Texas. Annunciation House has been serving the migrants community for the past 45 years under the leadership of Ruben Garcia. A state judge immediately blocked Paxton’s effort.
Again in May 8th, the Texas attorney general revived attempts to shut down Annunciation House, filing an application for a temporary injunction against Annunciation House, accusing it of a ‘systemic criminal conduct in Texas” including facilitating illegal border crossings or concealing “illegally present aliens from law enforcement.”
Annunciation House layers said those are false allegations. These accusations will impact all shelters serving migrants as well as volunteers serving the migrants at the shelters.