Kristin E. Heyer, a Faculty Affiliate of the Clough Center and a Theology Professor at Boston College, has published an article on the immigration policies that the Trump administration intends to implement. The article, “A Catholic Guide to Migration Ethics in the Trump Era,” appears in the December 2024 issue of America Magazine: The Jesuit Review of Faith & Culture.
Professor Heyer seeks to provide a framework for Catholic immigration ethics to reconceptualize the concept of migration. She emphasizes human rights and examines global conditions that have led to mass migrations and, in some cases, dislocations, leaving behind thousands of victims, many of whom are women and children. Within this framework, Professor Heyer highlights the importance of family and community in Catholic teachings:
“Families comprise our most intimate relationships; policies that undermine family unity frustrate this core. Beyond a critique of economic idolatry, the sanctity and social mission of the family indicate how conditions that perpetuate family separation undermine the common good. Catholic thought integrates a family’s intimate communion with its charge to mutually engage the broader social good. Deprivation of dignified labor opportunities and traumatic enforcement mechanisms impede immigrant families’ access to social goods.”
In this engaging and thought-provoking piece, Professor Heyer draws on the teachings of Pope Francis regarding global immigration. To read the essay, please click here.
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