In Bishop Mark Seitz’s initial response to an attempt by the state of Texas to shut down a Catholic migrant shelter in El Paso, he noted how the situation highlights the challenge such organisations face balancing federal and state responses with their own mission to serve.
“On the one hand, we are challenged by serious federal neglect to provide a safe, orderly and humane response to migration at our southern border,” Seitz, the bishop of El Paso, said in a statement at the end of February. “On the other hand, we are now witnessing an escalating campaign of intimidation, fear and dehumanisation in the State of Texas.”
