BREAKING Hundreds Join Bishops in Texas March and Vigil For Human Life And An End To Mass Deportations
Catholic Leaders and Hundreds March in El Paso to Protest Mass Detention
EL PASO, Texas — On March 24, 2026, hundreds of demonstrators, led by El Paso Bishop Mark J. Seitz and a coalition of Catholic clergy, gathered for a march and vigil to honor the feast day of St. Óscar Romero and demand an end to the "grave injustice" of mass deportation and detention.
The event took place in the heart of El Paso, a city that has become a flashpoint for U.S. immigration policy. The region is currently home to Camp East Montana, an ICE facility with a capacity for thousands that has recently been plagued by outbreaks of measles, tuberculosis, and COVID-19.
A Call to "Stir the Conscience"
Bishop Seitz, who recently published a pastoral letter on the crisis, was joined by several high-ranking prelates, including Bishop Brendan J. Cahill (Chair of the USCCB Committee on Migration) and Bishop Evelio Menjivar of Washington.
The bishops emphasized that the current administration's policies are not merely political issues but moral ones:
Human Dignity: Bishop Seitz noted that over 70% of the 68,000 people currently in immigration detention have no criminal convictions.
The Impact on Families: A recent report suggests that 80% of those at risk of deportation are Christian, with nearly one in five U.S. Catholics living in a household vulnerable to these policies.
A Firsthand Perspective: Bishop Menjivar, the first Salvadoran-born bishop in the U.S., shared his own history as a once-undocumented immigrant, stating, "That immigrant could have very easily been me."
The Legacy of St. Óscar Romero
The protest was deeply rooted in the legacy of St. Óscar Romero, the Salvadoran martyr assassinated in 1980. A first-class relic—a blood-stained cloth from the day of his death—was carried during the procession.
Bishop Menjivar drew a direct parallel between Romero’s final plea to the Salvadoran military and the current situation in the U.S., quoting the saint: "I order you in the name of God: Stop the repression."
Expanding Detention Networks
The march also served as a response to reports that the Department of Homeland Security is seeking to convert roughly 20 warehouses into detention centers, aiming for a total of nearly 93,000 beds.
"We have become ICE’s detention capital," said Melissa Lopez, executive director of Estrella del Paso. "We do not want to be known as the community where people do not receive the basic legal representation they deserve as human beings."
Theological Standing
The bishops grounded their protest in formal Catholic Magisterial teaching. They cited:
Gaudium et Spes (Vatican II): Specifically condemns "arbitrary imprisonment" and "deportation" as offenses to human dignity.
Veritatis Splendor (St. John Paul II): Categorizes such acts as "intrinsic evils" that "contaminate those who inflict them more than those who suffer injustice."
The event concluded with a call for Americans to view the border not as a barrier, but as a "place of encounter" with Christ in the guise of the poor and suffering.
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