Catholic Charities of Fort Worth Taking in Children Separated From Families at Border

Catholic Charities of Fort Worth said they have received and are assisting children who have been separated from their parents at the border.

They are currently housing elementary to middle school aged kids. Catholic Charities has not released how many children they have, when they arrived and if more would be in the coming days.

"The use of separation of children, including babies, from their mothers and fathers at the U.S./Mexico border as a tool for implementing the Administration's zero tolerance policy is sinful because it undermines the right to life of the vulnerable, directly traumatizes those who have already been injured, and undermines the role of legitimate authority," said Bishop Michael Olson.

“I think we need to examine our consciences as far as mean spiritedness in this issue all the way around, but especially when it is directed toward the more vulnerable in classifying an entire group of people as criminals simply for the means by which they are seeking asylum or the means by which they are seeking safety for their families,” said Olson. “And then to see some of them, even as criminals [that] they are somehow less than human.”

To those who support the policy of separating migrant children from their parents, Bishop Olson stressed that they consider whether the punishment meets the crime.

“I would ask them to consider, ‘Is it just to remove children from parents who have not committed a felony?’ I don’t think so,” Olson said.

Catholic Charities of Fort Worth has a foster program partnered with the federal government and they regularly take in children the government sends them.