According to the United Nations’ International Labor Organization, 49.6 million people lived in modern slavery in 2021, with 27.6 million in forced labor (6.3 million of which were in forced commercial sexual exploitation) and 22 million in forced marriage.
Immigration and Migration
Artificial intelligence must not hurt the most vulnerable, pope says
Pope Francis criticized the use of artificial intelligence in ways that negatively affect the most vulnerable, specifically those seeking asylum.
Migrant pleas, border realities confront President Biden in El Paso
In this first trip to the border since he took office, President Joe Biden, who is Catholic, sought to “assess border enforcement operations” and talk to those helping to manage “the historic number of migrants fleeing political oppression and gang violence in Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba,” according to the White House.
Biden says he plans to visit border for the first time in his presidency
President Joe Biden said Jan. 4 he plans to visit the U.S.-Mexico border, which would be the first visit to the border of his presidency, when he travels to Mexico next week.
U.S. extends TPS for Yemeni people fleeing ‘world’s worst humanitarian crisis’
Catholic immigration advocates are hailing the extension of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, to war-torn Yemen, where more than 23 million face what the United Nations has called “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.”
Supreme Court keeps Title 42 restriction on border entry in place for now
In an end-of-the year decision, the Supreme Court Dec. 27 ruled that a federal public health rule that allows immigration officials at the border to quickly turn away migrants seeking asylum could stay in place while legal challenges to the policy played out.
Another year of ‘limbo on earth’ for immigrants, refugees, asylum-seekers
The number of those in America without legal documentation has climbed into eight figures.
Pandemic-era border policy allowed to stay in place for now
Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily stopped the Biden administration from ending a pandemic-related border restriction with a one-page order Dec. 19.
On Guadalupe feast, U.S. church reaffirms its solidarity with immigrants
On the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the U.S. bishops’ migration chairman reaffirmed the church’s solidarity with immigrants, “each one of them a brother or sister to us all.”
Agencies in Texas archdiocese assist immigrants, refugees seeking asylum
Casa Juan Diego and Catholic Charities, recuperating from an overflow of Venezuelans seeking asylum from their country’s economic and political spiral this summer, may have to brace themselves for another possible surge this holiday season.
Migration must be managed, not stopped, pope tells European governments
Migration across the Mediterranean Sea is as old as humanity, and while some governments say they want to stop that movement of people, it will not and should not happen, Pope Francis said.
Supreme Court examines Biden’s immigration enforcement policy
Supreme Court justices Nov. 29 examined a Biden administration policy that placed the arrest and deportation of some unauthorized immigrants over others.