About this time last year, I visited a migrant respite center in McAllen, Texas, run by Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, the charitable arm of the Diocese of Brownsville. Sister Norma Pimentel helped established the center in 2014, at the height of the unaccompanied minor crisis, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was overwhelmed with thousands of children and teenagers turning themselves in to Border Patrol agents.
Border Security
STATE IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT ISN’T A POLICY PREFERENCE: It’s a Core Function of Sovereignty, Public Safety, and National Security
Protects Citizenship: Citizenship is the covenant that binds a political community, defining rights, duties, and the consent to self-government. Immigration enforcement maintains the legal boundary between members and non-members. When unlawful entry and presence are left unregulated at scale, that boundary erodes. Membership is no longer determined by law and allegiance, but by physical access...
May 26, 2026