Bishop seeks suspension of immigration blockade - El Paso, Texas Bishop Raymundo Pena

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 29, 1993

El Paso Bishop Raymundo Pena has called for a moratorium on the blockade along the Mexico-Texas border by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. The bishop, supported by Bishops Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces, N.M., and Juan Sandoval of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, said the blockade was devastating people on both sides of the border.

Pena said the blockade had mainly hurt workers from Ciudad Juarez who, until about a month ago, crossed the border daily into El Paso to find jobs they needed to support their families. But it also has hurt businesses in El Paso that relied on the workers as clientele, he said. His request for a six- to 12-month moratorium comes as U.S. and Mexican governments develop a plan to ease immigration controls.

"They (the migrants) are not criminals," Pena said at an Oct. 14 press conference. "In fact, we allowed them into our home. ... They contributed to the welfare of our families. We miss them. Why, then, do we suddenly consider them intruders?'