We are all together responsible

The bishops of the dioceses from the Mexico-Texas border met at Assumption Seminary, in San Antonio, on Feb. 26-28, 2025; a biannual meeting that has been held for forty years to coordinate efforts in our shared mission to proclaim the Gospel. On this occasion, our central focus was the situation of migrants and refugees, which has taken on new relevance with the new federal administrations in the United States and Mexico.
Among the bishops, the presidents of the commissions for pastoral care of migrants and refugees of the episcopal conferences of both countries participated, the Most Rev. Eugenio Andrés Lira Rugarcía, Bishop of Matamoros – Reynosa, and the Most Rev. Mark J. Seitz, Bishop of El Paso. Bishop Seitz presented a lecture entitled “A pastoral response to the current migration crisis from the border.” Two guests, Mrs. Tatiana Clouthier Carrillo and Mrs. Cecilia Romero Castillo, also made presentations.
We want to make it clear that the Catholic Church has always been a reliable partner of our governments, of our peoples and especially of all those in need, through processes to welcome, protect, promote and integrate the vulnerable, including collaboration in the resettlement of refugees to achieve their self-sufficiency. 
We are all together responsible in promoting the common good, simultaneously safeguarding the dignity of all by finding the right balance between various human rights, such as the right of workers and their families to have their situation regularized, the right not to be exploited, the right to migrate, the right not to need to migrate, and the right of all to have their government guarantee security in their own country. For decades, we have expressed our concern that in the United States we have a broken immigration system, which does not correspond to the present reality. We hope and strongly urge our political leaders to fulfill their duty to reform it.
To our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters, we want to say that the Church and its agencies remain committed to the mission of announcing the Gospel, providing living witness to the charity of the Lord Jesus by serving all people with dignity and compassion. Pope Francis encourages us and unites us as a Church and as a society to be inspired by the parable of the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10:25-37). In this task that concerns us all, we need God’s help and we count on the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe.