In their remarks, they also denounced the situation faced by many immigrants from Central America who cross Mexico to reach the United States and endure terrible suffering not only at the hands of false guides but also of organized criminal gangs.
“Across Central America and Mexico, the members of organized crime take immigrants as prisoners especially through the crime of kidnapping in order to extort their families,” the bishops said.
“When these immigrants refuse to cooperate or do not come up with the entire ransom money, they are brutally tortured and killed, as demonstrated by the events related to the massacre of 72 immigrants in San Fernando Tamaulipas, the discovery of hundreds of bodies in clandestine graves and the latest massacre of 49 people killed in Cadereyta, Nuevo Leon,” they noted.
The bishops also denounced the continual increase in sex trafficking and slave labor, especially involving children, in order to reap “criminal profits.”
They also expressed concern for immigrant children who travel unaccompanied and separated from their families, as well as the drastic increase in deportations from the United States and Mexico, which has led to more family separations.”
The current U.S. government “has broadened the role of the State in the application of immigration laws, which leads to abuses of fundamental rights,” the bishops said.