Maryknoll missioners have worked with migrants and people on the move for decades. They have served Burmese refugees in Thailand, Filipino and Thai workers all over Asia, Burundian and Rwandan refugees in East Africa, and have accompanied Guatemalans, who, after years in Mexico, returned home to start anew in a more peaceful country. Our faith compels us to stand in solidarity with migrants.
In the United States, we are profoundly affected by the contribution of migrants in our society, and we have a responsibility to treat them, like all the rest of God’s creation, with dignity and respect. Maryknoll missioners work in ministries serving migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border. In our work on U.S. migration policy, we focus on access to asylum and humanitarian protection, refugee aid and resettlement, and access to citizenship.
Maryknoll Joint Leadership Statements on Migration: Toward Global Solidarity (2006) and Statement on the Migrant Caravan (2018)
Policy Brief: Justice for Immigrants and Refugees in U.S. Policy
On May 29, the Bishops’ Conference of El Salvador released a pastoral letter urging, among other things, an end to the state of exception that suspends civil liberties and an end to the detention of migrants from other countries.
The Trump Administration announced it will end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) early for about 500,000 Haitians living in the United States, exposing them to deportation as soon as Sept. 2. This comes three months after the Trump Administration revoked legal protections for thousands of Haitians who arrived legally in the country under a humanitarian parole program.
Congress is considering harmful funding cuts and policy changes that would take away nutrition assistance and healthcare from millions of Americans, roll back investments in clean energy, devastate refugee assistance…
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joined 45 other faith-based organizations in the Washington, DC, Interfaith Staff Community writing to the Majority Leader and Minority Leader of the Senate, and the rest of the Senate, in expressing their opposition to the new version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
From June 2 to 4, hundreds of refugees and advocates will descend on Capitol Hill for the Refugee Advocacy Days, an event organized by the Refugee Council USA. The advocates…
The mass deportation plans in the United States will separate families – the Center for Migration Studies estimated on May 1 that 3.8 percent of all U.S. citizen children (2.7…
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joined 800 other institutions in endorsing the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, which would protect schools and houses of worship from deportation raids.
Ask your senators to support accountability for the treatment of migrants and inmates imprisoned in El Salvador, using the form below. Since March 15, when the Trump Administration sent 238…
We ask for your help in urging Congress to fix the broken Religious Worker Visa Program. An increasing number of foreign-born priests, brothers, and sisters in the United States—including Maryknoll…
Earth Day takes on special meaning this year, arriving as it does at the beginning of the Easter Season, and amid global mourning for Pope Francis. Choosing the name of…
March 17 marked the 45th anniversary of the Refugee Act, the law which established the right of migrants to seek asylum in the United States. It was a somber milestone…
President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 the weekend of March 15 and sent over 200 Venezuelan migrants to prison in El Salvador, despite a court order against it. The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns response to the concerning series of events is below.
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joined an interfaith letter in support of jurisdictions that support and protect immigrants. The letter was sent to members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform ahead of hearings on sanctuary jurisdictions. It requests that Congress oppose policies that strip critical funding from communities through sweeping measures like H.R. 32, the No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act, which would indiscriminately cut off health, education, and infrastructure funds for everyone in a respective state or locality, including citizens.
Two State Department programs that helped Afghans refugees were halted when the new administration froze foreign aid. Now they are terminated.
Our friends at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops prepared the following action to urging the protection of refugees.
Pope Francis took the unusual step of publishing an open letter to the Catholic Bishops of the United States to thank them for their work for migrants and refugees and urge their steadfastness in their defense of the dignity in the face of political pressure and initiation of a program of mass deportation. The letter and the response from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ President that came the day after, are below.
Burdensome public debt in the continent has induced African youth to migrate for employment driving greater risks of exploitation and modern slavery.
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joined a letter with faith-based groups to newly-appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to request that he restore foreign aid programs, reopen critical refugee resettlement programs, and fully reinstate USAID. Read this letter as a PDF. February 14, 2025 Dear Secretary Rubio, Congratulations on your confirmation as Secretary of State. This…
