| While an individual has a right to migrate under certain conditions, a state also has the right to protect its sovereign autonomy and cultural identity. Naturally, then, states are encouraged to maintain external security and internal stability, which in turn promote the common good of its domestic constituency. |
- Balancing the conflicting interests of migrants and the sovereignty of nation-states is proving increasingly difficult. The Church may have some wisdom to offer.
Immigration has driven ideological discord and social fragmentation perhaps more than any other issue. Since assuming office in January 2024, President Donald J. Trump has signed a series of executive orders empowering the Department of Homeland Security and its primary investigative arm, ICE, to expand border security and hasten the removal of illegal immigrants by way of individual and mass deportations.
Criticism of the administration’s zero-tolerance policy, including from the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops (USCCB), has focused on the moral implications of these actions and the challenges they present to genuine multilateral cooperation and the development of sustainable economic models. Pope Francis also weighed in with a letter addressed to U.S. bishops, buttressing their concerns.
The debate over immigration has also fractured Europe, fueling skepticism of the European Union’s efficacy amid its failure to implement integration policies, precipitating broader discussions on the interplay between state’s rights and the influence of supranational bodies in addressing the economic, social, and cultural repercussions of mass migration.
The Catholic Church does not provide technical solutions, nor does it engage directly in electoral politics or public policy debates. By way of the vast corpus of its social doctrine, it does, however, offer pastoral considerations and apply objective moral principles to inform the social and political order, providing guidance on how such questions may be evaluated to uphold the rule of law and state sovereignty while safeguarding the inherent dignity of the human person and promoting the common good.
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críticas del régimen nicaragüense, reclamó procesos ante tribunales independientes, con garantías de defensa y respeto por el debido proceso.
Ante la carestía de médicos especialistas, Botsuana es, desde hace muchos años, un cliente fiel de las brigadas médicas cubanas del régimen caribeño. Éstas, sin embargo, se producen en un marco retributivo y de violación de derechos que posee todos los indicadores de trabajo forzoso, una de las formas contemporáneas de la esclavitud moderna.