The archdiocese of Mexico City has made its judgement: Mexicans who help build a border wall between the US and Mexico are traitors.
“The shame is that, on this side of the border, there are Mexicans ready to collaborate with a fanatic project that destroys the good relation in the collaboration of two nations that share a common frontier,” reads the editorial in Desde la Fe, a weekly publication by the Mexican archdiocese, published Mar. 26 (link in Spanish). According to the column signed by the newsroom, over 500 Mexican companies have expressed interest in working on the wall that US president Donald Trump has proposed building along the length of the US-Mexico border.
Pope Francis in Rome has only indirectly criticized Trump’s border wall. But his representatives in Mexico are fiercely attacking the White House’s immigration policies, despite the Catholic church’s traditional support of US conservatives’ social positions, like anti-abortion advocacy.
This week’s editorial about the US-Mexico border wall is just the latest in a series of accusatory columns published by Desde la Fe, which serves as the voice of the church in Mexico. The country has one of the largest Catholic populations in the world, with 81% of its citizens identifying as Catholic.
In past months, the publication has taken a harsh view of Trump’s plans to deport undocumented migrants from the United States and has described his plan to build a border wall as a violation of human rights and “terrorismo migratorio” (migrant terrorism; link in Spanish). “What Mr. Trump does isn’t just an application of inhumane legalism, but a veritable act of terror,” the publication wrote on Feb. 26, criticizing a White House executive order that encourages raids and deportation of undocumented residents.
Former president Barack Obama has also received harsh criticism for deportation. Before Trump moved into the White House, Desde la Fe described Obama’s plan to legalize some immigrants as a mere ”hypocritical alibi” for the US government’s bigger plan to get rid of Mexican immigrants.
The Mexican church isn’t just attacking the new White House from afar. It’s also criticizing the local government’s “tepid” position (link in Spanish) for permitting “a catastrophe that is hovering on our people.” According to the editorial, the Mexican government should ban local companies from building Trump’s wall.