Posted: Aug. 24, 2023
River buoys laced with circular saws. Separated, imprisoned migrant families. Border officers ordered to push exhausted asylum seekers -- including children -- into a rushing river. That's the infuriatingly brutal state of affairs along the Rio Grande river right now, thanks to Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and "Operation Lone Star."
Abbott is Catholic, but he's making it clear that he takes neither Catholic social teaching nor the Gospels' instructions to welcome the stranger seriously. He's built a national name for himself in part through his extreme cruelty to those seeking safe refuge in the United States.
Thankfully, the Department of Justice has opened an investigation into Abbott's potential civil rights violations. That's a big step in the right direction, but there's more the federal government must do to help those whom Abbott has already harmed.
Our partners on the ground in Texas, along with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, say that one of the biggest things the Department of Homeland Security can do is reunite separated families immediately. Let's join together as Christians and lift up their voices to the administration -- and in doing so, expose the hypocrisy of Abbott and other religious-right leaders who aren't practicing what Jesus preached.
Sign the petition:
Love thy neighbor.