Due Process - Archdiocese of Baltimore

Back to Elements of a Just Immigration System

Back to Immigration Homepage

Humanitarian protections and due process should be ensured. Immigration processes, whether affirmative or defensive, must also be subject to due process. The dehumanization or vilification of noncitizens as a means to deprive them of protection under the law is not only contrary to the rule of law but an affront to God himself, who has created them in his own image. Further restricting access to humanitarian protections will only endanger those who are most vulnerable and deserving of relief.
The USCCB has consistently supported increased opportunities for legal immigration and the protection for immigrants’ due process rights, while opposing an enforcement-only approach to immigration that prioritizes deterrence and unjust penalties.
Reform the immigration detention system. Immigration reform legislation should eliminate the use of detention as a method of deterrence, end the use of for-profit corporations in immigration detention, reserve detention only for individuals who are national security or public safety threats, expand community-based alternatives to detention (ATDs) which ensure immigration compliance in a humane way, and include other reforms that will protect vulnerable migrants and their families.
We restate our long-held position that asylum seekers and refugees should have access to qualified adjudicators who will objectively consider their pleas. We urge both countries to take a leadership role in the Regional Conference on Migration ( Puebla Process) and to work with our Central American neighbors to ensure that asylum seekers and refugees throughout our hemisphere have access to appropriate due process protections consistent with international law.