CathNews New Zealand

A Honduran father separated from his wife and child suffered a breakdown at a Texas jail and killed himself in a padded cell last month, according to Border Patrol agents and an incident report filed by sheriff’s deputies.

The death of Marco Antonio Muñoz has not been publicly disclosed by the Department of Homeland Security, and it did not appear in any local news accounts.

But, according to a copy of a sheriff’s department report obtained by The Washington Post, Muñoz was found on the floor of his cell on 13 May.

Muñoz’s death occurred not long after the Trump administration began implementing its ­“zero-tolerance” crackdown on illegal migration.

The chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on Migration on June 1 criticised the Trump administration for “forcibly separating children from their mothers and fathers” at the US-Mexico border.

Such a policy “is ineffective to the goals of deterrence and safety, and contrary to our Catholic values,” said Bishop Joe S. Vasquez of Austin, Texas.

“Family unity is a cornerstone of our American immigration system and a foundational element of Catholic teaching”.

Bishop Daniel Flores issued a statement three days ago in which he said while a nation has a right to secure its sovereign border, it does not mean that it may use any means available to deter immigrants who seek to ask for asylum.

Flores is the Bishop of Brownsville, which is on the border between Texas and Mexico.

“This nation, for the sake of its soul, must learn to weep with these children, and all the children who are being instrumentalised and commodified in our midst”, Flores said.

He called the Catholics of Brownsville and all people of good will to write to the President, the Attorney General and members of Congress to insist that this manner of enforcement comes to an end.

Source

• washingtonpost.com
• catholicphilly.com
• Supplied: Father Tony O’Connor
•  Image: edition.cnn.com

Additional reading

• Torn from their families in the US, Salvadoran deportees return to a gang-ravaged homeland
• ‘They just took them?’ Frantic parents separated from their kids fill courts on the border
• Hundreds of migrant kids separated from parents are stuck at border stations
• UN calls on Trump to ‘immediately halt’ policy on separating migrant families at border
• Trump’s crackdown on migrant families plunges Washington deeper into immigration fight
• Sessions defends separating immigrant parents and children: ‘We’ve got to get this message out
• San Diego diocese launching program to prevent family separation at border

News category: Top Story.