Immigration a Complex — and Divisive — Issue for Catholics

The National Catholic Register outlines the divisions among Catholics on immigration policy and reform.  Church member sare polarized racially, just as the nation is.   A January 2019 poll conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute highlighted these divisions. Overall, 58% of Americans oppose the building of the wall, and 41% support it, according to the PRRI poll, but there is a mirror-image partisan division, with Democrats opposed by an 80%-20% margin and Republicans supportive by an 80%-19% margin. Among Catholics as a whole, 53% were opposed, while 45% supported the wall. But white Catholics supported it overall, by a 56%-44% margin, whereas Hispanic Catholics were opposed by 73%-27%. Both sides debate how best to address the tangle of issues involved in immigration policy that the current policy needs to be fixed. But disagreement about how that should happen continues to stand as a barrier to progress.

KJ