The map shows the Catholic Church’s migrant shelters in Mexico – Catholic World Report

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 5, 2023 at 16:15 PM (CNA).

The Catholic Church in Mexico has released an interactive map showing the locations of the shelters, soup kitchens and information centers for immigrants it runs across the country.

The church has 54 reception centers for immigrants, 12 kitchens for the poor, where their basic needs can be met; and five information centers where migrants can be referred to legal advisers and where they can leave their contact information to receive assistance.

Father Hector Julio López Vivas, executive secretary of the Mexican Bishops’ Ministry for Migrants, explained that the map was developed in order for migrants to have a more efficient way to find places where they can receive assistance “in a humane way”.

“When people arrive at a facility of the Catholic Church, they feel safe, they feel protected, and they know that all services are absolutely free,” the priest said in an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

Government ‘shelters‘ ‘They operate like prisons‘

Church-run shelters operate differently from government-run facilities, which was most evident when on 27 March a fire broke out in the housing area of ​​the government-run temporary shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua state, killing 40 people. people and injured at least 28.

Ciudad Juarez is located on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande River across from El Paso, Texas.

At the time of the tragedy, the Mexican bishops issued a statement lamenting the “inhumane conditions” migrants are exposed to in these places, and called on the government to stop classifying them as “refugees” because they “serve as prisons as punishment”. for illegal immigration.”

Prior to this incident, the Bishop’s Department of Immigration had warned the International Commission for Human Rights (IACHR) about the “alarming situation” and “potential danger” to which people were exposed in the immigration centers of the National Institute for Migration.

Given this situation, Lopez encouraged immigrants to trust church-run facilities. “We are not a government agency, we are not detention centres, we are centers of humanitarian assistance.”

The interactive map can be found here.

This story was first reported by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. Translated and adapted by CNA.