I continue with my suggestions for improving the pastoral letter on immigration by the Archbishop of San Antonio, the Most Rev. Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS.

The Archbishop paints another picture, namely, that of the desperation of the undocumented/illegal immigrant. He writes, “Our immigration system has failed the people it was meant to serve” (Para. 17). It is not in this part of the letter that he describes how immigration has failed or identifies the people it was meant to serve. On this last point, I daresay that the American immigration system was designed to serve the American people. It was not designed, in the first instance, to serve people throughout the world.

In the subsequent paragraph (18), he writes, “If legal pathways were open to them, the great majority would use them. But the pathways into the United States now take years to access…” Presumably, a wait that is years long to cross the border legally is at least one of the ways in which the Archbishop would say the American immigration system is broken or has failed. Yet, the American people, through our Congress and our laws, design an immigration system that includes criteria for eligibility and predicted or capped numbers for various categories. If the Archbishop has in his mind a design for a system that expands the number of lawful immigrants, the time for which they must wait, and so on, he doesn’t say. What numbers and what timeline would satisfy him — and promote the interests of the American people? Just because the Archbishop is not satisfied with the current numbers and timeline because these don’t meet the needs of foreigners does not mean that the American system is “broken.”

In various spots, the Archbishop addresses the “right to emigrate.” He does not mention this right in the context of simply leaving one’s country, a right denied, totally or in large part, by Communist China, Communist Cuba, Communist North Korea, Eritrea, Syria, and Iran. Rather, he is referring to the right to enter some other country, namely, the United States.

The Archbishop cites conditions that warrant the exercise of the right to emigrate in the following words:

• “the Church has long taught that people have the right to remain in their homelands under conditions of human dignity, and the right to emigrate when those conditions have collapsed. Where survival or safety fail, the right to emigrate becomes operative.” (Para. 27; citing Pope St. John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris)
• “While the Church upholds the right to private property and the sovereignty of nations, these rights are always subordinate to the prior, universal claim every human being has to what is necessary for life. When a family flees violence or starvation and crosses a border in search of safety, they are exercising a right that precedes human law, rooted in the law of God.” (Para. 33)
• “The Catechism [of the Catholic Church] affirms that political authorities ought to manage and steward migration for the common good, and they are morally bound to welcome the foreigner who seeks security and livelihood unavailable at home. In our joint 2003 Pastoral Letter, Strangers No Longer, the bishops of the United States and Mexico distill this teaching with five enduring principles: the right not to migrate, the right to migrate when survival requires it, the legitimate authority of nation states limited by the common good, the protection of refugees, and the inviolable dignity of those without documents. (Para. 34)

First let me comment by discussing the phrases “the right to remain in their homelands” and “the right not to migrate.” This deserves more attention. In just one year in office as pope, Pope Leo XIV has encouraged Christians to remain in countries where there is extreme poverty, instability, and persecution, specifically in the Holy Land, Syria, Lebanon, the Caucasus, Ukraine, Sudan, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. He has urged the governments in those countries not to discriminate against Christians and to protect Christians. Christians in such countries, they are told, need to work to improve the conditions in those countries, to “work[] day by day to develop a civilization of love and peace…”[i] Why should Pope Leo and the bishops not treat people from the Spanish-speaking countries in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, and other peoples, the same way and urge them to remain in place, even at great risk, and make things better? In this respect, I bring to your attention that nowhere does the Archbishop ask his flock to give any consideration to the option of self-deportation.[ii]

Second, the United States does not deny that the immigrants who have crossed our border illegally, or have overstayed a visa, do not have a right to leave their countries of origin and emigrate. The issue is whether they can lawfully enter, and remain in, the United States. A right to emigrate is not a right to emigrate to the United States. The Archbishop never addresses why so few people who have left their countries for the United States decline to apply to enter, or stay in, a country other than the United States. They may journey through Canada, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, or they may fly out of Italy, Germany, France, the UK, Spain, or more countries, but instead of remaining in those countries, they choose the United States as their destination.

I will continue in Part 4 of this four-part series with further suggestions. (A link to Part 1 is here; a link to Part 2 is here.)

[i] Here are three examples:

• Pope Leo addressed students at the Catholic University of Central Africa in Yaoundé, Cameroon, April 17, 2026, in these words: “Dear sons and daughters of Cameroon, dear students, in the face of the understandable tendency to migrate — which may lead one to believe that elsewhere a better future may be more easily found — I invite you, first and foremost, to respond with an ardent desire to serve your country and to apply the knowledge you are acquiring here to the benefit of your fellow citizens. This is the raison d’être of your university, founded thirty-five years ago to form pastors of souls and lay people committed to society: these are the witnesses of wisdom and justice, of which the African continent needs.”
• On November 25, 2025, in Beirut, Lebanon, Pope Leo said: “There are times when it is easier to flee, or simply more convenient to move elsewhere. It takes real courage and foresight to stay or return to one’s own country, and to consider even somewhat difficult situations worthy of love and dedication. We know that here, as in other parts of the world, uncertainty, violence, poverty and many other threats are leading to an exodus of young people and families seeking a future elsewhere, even though it is very painful to leave one’s homeland. It is certainly necessary to recognize that much good can come to all of you from having Lebanese people spread throughout the world. However, we must not forget that remaining in our homeland and working day by day to develop a civilization of love and peace remains something very valuable.” (italics added)
• In a May 14, 2025, address to participants in the Jubilee of Oriental Churches, Pope Leo said: “I thank God for those Christians—Eastern and Latin alike—who, above all in the Middle East, persevere and remain in their homelands, resisting the temptation to abandon them… Christians must be given the opportunity, and not just in words, to remain in their native lands with all the rights needed for a secure existence. Please, let us strive for this!”

[ii] It is difficult to get a handle on how many people may have self-deported from the San Antonio area or from Texas. One reason is that many people are detained in Texas but did not reside there.