Immigration and Migration

Attorneys for the Diocese of Paterson, N.J., have moved to voluntarily dismiss a lawsuit they had filed against the federal government regarding visas for religious workers — a case that highlights the perfect storm created by the nation’s shifting immigration policies and the increased reliance on international clergy by the Catholic Church in the United States amid a downturn in domestic vocations to the priesthood.

The Trump administration indicated it would restrict the number of refugees it admits annually into the country to 7,500, with most of that number to be white South Africans.

As the sun set over the international border a small cadre of Catholic bishops processed toward Mexico. Flanked by priests, religious brothers and sisters, laity and immigration advocates, the U.S. prelates walked along Main Street in San Luis Oct. 12.