April 15, 2020

Slowing the spread of COVID-19 requires that everyone be included in prevention and protection strategies, especially the most vulnerable, including migrants and refugees. This pandemic is a public health crisis that brings home how interconnected we are. It is our collective responsibility to act rapidly and in solidarity.

As grassroots and faith-based organizations and religious leaders from across Central America, Mexico and the United States working to address the root causes of poverty, violence and corruption that force people to leave their homes, we offer this framework for action to protect migrants and refugees and help all of our communities survive this crisis and rebuild with justice and equity.

1. We demand the rapid, safe and orderly release of as many migrants and asylum seekers from detention as possible

• Identify and prioritize the immediate release of those at risk due to underlying medical conditions or age. 
• No migrant should be detained in a facility that is unable to follow required COVID-19 prevention steps.
• Those managing detention centers must identify, protect and refer those suspected of being ill to specialized health care services.

2. Take immediate steps to slow the spread of the virus in refugee camps, migrant shelters and detention centers

• Officials and others who are responsible for the management of facilities sheltering refugees and migrants should receive the information, advice and support necessary in order to follow WHO recommended protocols for preventing the spread of COVID-19, including providing staff and those detained with clean water, soap, sanitizer, cleaning supplies and protective equipment.
• Public health officials should carry out appropriate testing, ensure suitably equipped quarantine areas and provide adequate medical care and treatment, as well as a referral system for the sick to specialized hospitals.
• Governments should provide appropriate financial and medical support to migrant shelters, while respecting their legitimate autonomy. These shelters provide indispensable services by providing hospitality to numerous vulnerable and at-risk people, including families, children and adolescents. 
• Governments must guarantee the protection of the rights of migrants in quarantine, including adequate medical attention, until they can be released and returned safely.

3. Provide migrants and refugees equitable access to prevention, testing, treatment and emergency support 

• There can be no discrimination in access to accurate public health information and resources and protocols for preventing the spread of COVID-19. Immigrants and refugees must receive testing and treatment if they become sick, at no cost and without barriers.
• No one should be punished, detained or deported because they are ill or suspected of being ill.
• Programs that provide emergency food and other aid to those unemployed and suffering as a result of the pandemic must include migrants and refugees, regardless of immigration status.

4.  Guarantee the right to asylum

• Countries must continue to allow the entrance of asylum-seekers under international law.
• Governments should offer integral assistance to and guarantee the human rights of migrants and asylum seekers, including those being repatriated.
• Rather than blanket exclusion of asylum-seekers, countries should use public health protocols, including screening, testing, quarantine and self-isolation.
• We call for the immediate suspension of the ’Remain in Mexico’ Program or the ‘Migrant Protection Protocols’, allowing asylum-seekers to stay in the United States, with due protections against the pandemic.

5. Make immediate and large-scale investments in public health systems and food and income support for vulnerable families

• Central America and Mexico urgently need more financial resources from regional, international and United States aid agencies to strengthen public health systems, including testing, the provision of personal protective equipment and training for health workers, specialized equipment for pandemic care, as well as support to hospitals and other facilities to isolate and treat people who contract COVID-19.

We call for an international solidarity that promotes the economic recovery of the countries of the region while supporting the human and integral development of the most vulnerable families and communities.

ENDORSERS:

Organizations

Faith in Action

Hope Border Institute

Catholic Relief Services

La 72, Hogar – Refugio para Personas Migrantes

Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña (OFRANEH)

Justicia, Paz y Integridad de Creación (JPIC)/Honduras

Centinelas por la Dignificación del Estado

Comunidades de Fe Organizadas en Acción (COFOA)

Congregation Action Network

New Mexico CAFé

Catholic Labor Network

Catholic Charities of Southern New Mexico

Christian Community Development Association

Coalición Pro defensa del Migrante AC / Baja California Norte

Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach

Comisión de Justicia, Paz e Integridad de la Creación de CONFREGUA 

Comisión de Justicia, Paz e Integridad de la Creación de las Conferencias de 

Commission on Migration of the Diocese of El Paso

Religiosas y Religiosos de Centroamérica y México (CONFERCAM)

Derechos Humanos Integrales en Acción, A.C.

Disciples Refugee & Immigration Ministries

Faith in Public Life

Holy Name Province, Franciscan Friars, NY, NY

Ignatian Solidarity Network / La Red de Solidaridad Ignaciana

Inner Change

Jesuit Conference Office of Justice and Ecology

JPIC Familia Franciscana Guatemala

JPIC – Misioneros Claretianos

Kino Border Initiative

Migrant & Refugee Services, Diocese of El Paso

La Red Jesuita con Migrantes Guatemala

Leadership Conference of Women Religious

National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA

National Justice for Our Neighbors

NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice

Pastoral de Movilidad Humana – Honduras

Pax Christi International

Pax Christi USA

Presbyterian Church (USA)

Red CLAMOR

Red Franciscana de Atención a Migrantes-Honduras

Red Franciscana para Migrantes

Scalabrinianas Misión con Migrantes y Refugiados (SMR)

School Sisters of Notre Dame, Central Pacific Province

Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes México

Sisters of Loretto/Loretto Community

Sisters of Mercy of the Americas – Justice Team

Somos Uno por Juarez

Stuart Center

Union of Sisters of the Presentation of BVM (USA Province)

Religious Leaders

Bishop Mark Seitz, Diocese of El Paso

Cardinal Álvaro Ramazzini Imeri, Diocese of Huehuetenango

Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Archdiocese of Newark

Archbishop John Wester, Archdiocese of Santa Fe

Archbishop Charles Thompson, Archdiocese of Indianapolis

Bishop José Raúl Vera López, Diocese de Saltillo

Bishop Edward Weisenburger, Diocese of Tucson

Bishop John Stowe, Diocese of Lexington

Bishop Oscar Cantú, Diocese of San Jose

Bishop Emeritus Ricardo Ramirez

Bishop Emeritus Gerald Kicanas

Rev. Scott Santarosa, S.J., Provincial, Society of Jesus, Jesuits West

Individuals and Clergy

Irma A. Velasquez Nimatuj, Profesora Invitada, Universidad de Stanford

Fr. Vidal Rivas

Rev. Manuel F. Ibarra

Sr. Norma Pimentel, Executive Director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley

Rev. Deborah Clugy Soto, President of the Interfaith Alliance of the Southwest

Hna. Magdalena Silva Rentería. Casa de Acogida Formación y Empoderamiento de la Mujer Migrante y Refugiada (CAFEMIN)

Hna. María Antonia Bobadilla, Scalabrinianas Misión con Migrantes y Refugiados (SMR)

Rabbi Jonah Layman

Rabbi Jeremy Kridel

Rev. Dr. Matt Braddock

John Gehring, Catholic program director, Faith in Public Life 

Rev. Charlene Belsom Zellmer, Congregation Action Network

Cynthia Lapp, pastor, Hyattsville Mennonite Church

Fray Gonzalo Ituarte, O.P., Parroquia Universitaria

Rev. Peter Jarrett Schell