As the country grapples with politically fraught immigration crises, the Catholic Church offers dignity and support for immigrants, according to Rev. Mark Seitz. 

“Every migrant is a person, and as such, has inalienable rights that must be respected in every situation,” said Seitz. 

Seitz spoke on Thursday as the keynote speaker for the start of the Institute for the Liberal Arts at Boston College’s interdisciplinary conference: “Law, Conscience, and Migration Today,” which concentrated on the ever-increasing tension surrounding federal immigration policy. 

Federal rhetoric has painted immigration as harmful to American society, justifying forcible methods of reducing the number of foreign-born people in the country, according to Seitz. 

“When someone is an existential threat, anything is licit,” said Seitz. 

He then described how Vatican and American bishops have taken a leading role in protesting the immigration enforcement’s current conduct.

“Pope Leo XIV and the U.S. bishops have pointedly condemned indiscriminate mass deportations as dehumanizing,” Seitz said. 

This past November, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a collective statement calling for “a meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws and procedures.”

Seitz discussed his experience with immigration enforcement, having served as the head of El Paso’s diocese, which is located directly on the U.S.-Mexico border, witnessing the gross violations of due process by border patrol agents. 

“Border patrol personnel have demonstrated a willingness to play fast and loose with the rule of law and with due process,” Seitz said.  

Seitz explained how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was created following Sept. 11, 2001, amid a surge in xenophobia that led to a lack of empathy for immigrants within the agency. That lack of empathy has only worsened, he argued. 

“What was needed was care, compassion, and respect for constitutional law and the international asylum laws for which the average agent was poorly equipped,” he said. 

He then provided the example of recent ICE recruitment advertisements, which used imagery of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to provoke nationalist and protectionist sentiment. 

Perhaps the most concerning element of the present policy is the increasing hostility it displays and the spread of xenophobia, Seitz argued. 

“The persistent rhetoric once emanating from the fringes of the political right, which demoralizes those arriving from the world and characterizes them as existential threats to the homeland, has now migrated to the political center,” Seitz said. 

Political pressure is already exerting a discernible effect on law enforcement strategy, Seitz contended, believing that this trend will only increase as cameras draw more eyes and ears to these clashes. 

“We truly believe that if they hear a voice of love, compassion, and peace—if they hear the stories of the people that we have come to love and care about—their hearts will be changed,” Seitz said.