Miami archbishop’s immigration plea likely to fall on deaf ears, even if it’s right | Opinion

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski’s appeal to Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Trump to pause immigration enforcement during the holiday season is the humane thing to do — in a situation that has become increasingly inhumane.

Wenski, who has long been active in immigration issues in Miami, made his pitch Monday on behalf of the Bishops of the Catholic Church in Florida, the Miami Herald reported.

“It’s a very simple request. It’s not asking them to reverse their policies, which we hope they would. We’re just asking them to give a pause so that we can get beyond the Christmas holidays without people being paralyzed by fear,” Wenski said.

He asked for a pause to extend through Jan. 6, when Catholics celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany.

Will state and national leaders take any notice? Unlikely. This is a state in which the governor has bragged about how quickly (eight days) he was able to erect the tent-and-trailer detention center named Alligator Alcatraz, west of Miami. And this is a federal government that continues to violate due process as it conducts round-ups of immigrants and ships them off, sometimes to a third country.

But even if state and federal leaders ignore this plea, it was worth making. With this public request, Wenski is putting himself on the line opposing the cruel immigration policies of the Trump and DeSantis administrations. More faith leaders — and leaders of any kind — should consider following his example.

That’s especially true this week, as a video of a 60 Minutes segment — which was pulled by CBS hours before airing but leaked on the internet — offered a look at the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador, where the U.S. has shipped over 250 immigrants. Conditions for detainees at CECOT — as described in the segment — include beatings, lack of clean water, lights on 24 hours a day and bunks stacked four high. A majority of those sent to El Salvador are Venezuelan nationals.

Wenski’s request is part of a larger appeal by the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops (FCCB), which made a similar request of DeSantis and Trump the same day. That statement was issued after Pope Leo XIV’s statement in November condemning the United States’ treatment of migrants as “extremely disrespectful.” Hundreds of thousands of deportations have already taken place, many involving immigrants without criminal records.

And then there’s the issue of Temporary Protected Status. The federal government continues revoking TPS and humanitarian parole from Haitians and Venezuelans, many of whom have been in the United States legally for years. For Miami, that hits hard — those are our neighbors, friends and co-workers. Last month, a billboard along Interstate 95 in Miami was unveiled, featuring local four civic leaders, among them Miami Dade College President Emeritus Eduardo Padrón. The display called on Miamians to defend “our immigrant neighbors.”

That’s what Wenski is doing. And there are others. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Rene Garcia joined members of the Cuban American Bar Association in calling out the Trump administration for ignoring due process and detaining people at their immigration hearings. Miami Republican U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar issued a statement describing as “un-American” the Trump administration’s decision to order a pause of all immigration applications from nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and other so-called “high risk” countries.

What the Florida bishops and Wenski are asking for is a small thing — a short pause, not a complete overhaul of our immigration law system. But it’s a step in the right direction, toward compassion.

A pause isn’t a solution, of course. What’s truly needed is comprehensive immigration reform. Immigrants who are criminals should not be allowed to remain in the country. Salazar, who’s Cuban-American, has sponsored a more nuanced approach, an immigration reform bill called the “Dignity Act” that would offer undocumented immigrants who entered the United States years ago a chance to legally remain working and living in the country.

Wenski’s request is likely to be ignored, but no matter what happens, he’s reminding us of the importance of compassion — and the need for real immigration reform.