A German archbishop touring the US–Mexico border said the massive fortifications dividing El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, remind him of the Berlin Wall.
Archbishop Stefan Hesse of Hamburg, who chairs the German bishops’ migration commission, described the razor wire and towering barriers as disturbing during an interview with OSV News following a weeklong solidarity visit.
He warned that when nations treat migration purely as a security threat, basic human dignity is lost. Drawing a parallel between the migration crisis in the US and growing tensions in Europe, Archbishop Hesse expressed concern that, in most circumstances, “the rule of law and the respect for human rights are declining.”
Archbishop Hesse met with local church leaders, including El Paso Bishop Mark J. Seitz, as well as aid workers and migrants facing deportation.
Archbishop Hesse credited the Catholic Church with sustaining the humanitarian response on the ground, noting that Catholic groups operate roughly 80 per cent of the region’s migrant shelters. Archbishop Hesse emphasized that in the Catholic Church, there are no borders.
Bishop Seitz hosted the archbishop’s delegation along with the Hope Border Institute, a migrant advocacy agency based in El Paso.
