{"id":98805,"date":"2026-04-13T12:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/?p=98805"},"modified":"2026-04-13T12:53:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:53:54","slug":"bishops-urge-ice-to-honor-policy-on-life-to-all-vulnerable-mothers-infants-and-children-in-the-womb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/04\/13\/bishops-urge-ice-to-honor-policy-on-life-to-all-vulnerable-mothers-infants-and-children-in-the-womb\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishops Urge ICE to Honor Policy on Life to All Pregnant and Postpartum Mothers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON – Reports detailing harmful conditions faced by pregnant and postpartum mothers detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have become more frequent, despite existing policy that discourages the arrest and detention of such women in most cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to these reports, Bishop Daniel E. Thomas, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops\u2019 (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop Brendan J. Cahill, chairman of the USCCB\u2019s Committee on Migration, wrote to recently confirmed Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin and Todd Lyons, senior official performing the duties of the director at ICE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A pregnant migrant from Brazil is treated and taken away by medics at a temporary staging area, in Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif., June 4, 2024. (OSV News photo\/Go Nakamura, Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The two bishops urged ICE to abide consistently by its existing policy, avoiding the arrest and detention of pregnant and postpartum mothers, absent exceptional circumstances. They went on to state:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter one\u2019s immigration status, there is no overarching justification for separating nursing infants from their mothers or endangering the health and safety of pregnant women or their preborn babies. In this regard, we urge you in the strongest possible terms to extend the administration\u2019s commitments on life to all vulnerable mothers, infants, and children in the womb.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Women pray in solidarity with\u00a0immigrants\u00a0during a special Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington March 5, 2026. (OSV News photo\/Mihoko Owada, Catholic Standard)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The bishops also took the opportunity to congratulate the Secretary on his confirmation and assured him of their prayers as he continues his service to the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full text of their letter<\/a> may be found on the USCCB\u2019s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their letter follows a\u00a0joint statement<\/a>\u00a0made last May by Bishop Thomas and Bishop Cahill\u2019s predecessor on pregnant and postpartum mothers and infants in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody, as well as a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0by Bishop Thomas in January, welcoming pro-life actions taken by the administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON – Reports detailing harmful conditions faced by pregnant and postpartum mothers detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have become more frequent, despite existing policy that discourages the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98812,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[1335,661,551],"class_list":["post-98805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diocesan-news","tag-ice","tag-immigration","tag-usccb"],"acf":[],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USCCB-ICE-mothers-care-1.jpg",1920,1280,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USCCB-ICE-mothers-care-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USCCB-ICE-mothers-care-1-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USCCB-ICE-mothers-care-1-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USCCB-ICE-mothers-care-1-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USCCB-ICE-mothers-care-1-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USCCB-ICE-mothers-care-1.jpg",1920,1280,false]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":"

WASHINGTON – Reports detailing harmful conditions faced by pregnant and postpartum mothers detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have become more frequent, despite existing policy that discourages the arrest and detention of such women in most cases. In response to these reports, Bishop Daniel E. Thomas, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops\u2019 (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop Brendan J. Cahill, chairman of the USCCB\u2019s Committee on Migration, wrote to recently confirmed Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin and Todd Lyons, senior official performing the duties of the director at ICE. A pregnant migrant from…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"Diocesan News<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"Diocese of St. Augustine","url":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/author\/dosafl\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","yoast_head":"\nBishops Urge ICE to Honor Policy on Life to All Pregnant and Postpartum Mothers - Diocese of St. Augustine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/04\/13\/bishops-urge-ice-to-honor-policy-on-life-to-all-vulnerable-mothers-infants-and-children-in-the-womb\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bishops Urge ICE to Honor Policy on Life to All Pregnant and Postpartum Mothers - Diocese of St. Augustine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WASHINGTON – Reports detailing harmful conditions faced by pregnant and postpartum mothers detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have become more frequent, despite existing policy that discourages the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/04\/13\/bishops-urge-ice-to-honor-policy-on-life-to-all-vulnerable-mothers-infants-and-children-in-the-womb\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Diocese of St. Augustine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-13T16:45:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-13T16:53:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USCCB-ICE-mothers-care-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Diocese of St. Augustine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Diocese of St. Augustine\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/04\/13\/bishops-urge-ice-to-honor-policy-on-life-to-all-vulnerable-mothers-infants-and-children-in-the-womb\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/04\/13\/bishops-urge-ice-to-honor-policy-on-life-to-all-vulnerable-mothers-infants-and-children-in-the-womb\/\",\"name\":\"Bishops Urge ICE to Honor Policy on Life to All Pregnant and Postpartum Mothers - 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