European Bishops Reject Warnings of Illegal Immigration Threat

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

68% : The president of the European Catholic Bishops' Conferences (COMECE), Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, has rejected European Commission warnings that illegal immigration is being used to "destabilise Europe," calling instead for the facilitation of migration into the continent.
58% : Hollerich was writing in response to an October 7 joint letter by leaders of the European Commission calling for the adaptation of existing legal frameworks so as "to adequately address attempts of instrumentalisation of illegal migration for political purposes and other hybrid threats."
56% : We call on the European Union and its Member States "to welcome, protect, promote, and integrate migrants and asylum seekers, supporting a positive perception and narrative of migrants and their families," he concluded.
48% : "As Bishops of the European Union, we support the growing resettlement efforts of EU Member States, civil society and Church actors," he wrote, "as well as the creation of secure and legal avenues for migrants, in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of criminal networks of smugglers and traffickers.
43% : In his response to the letter, Cardinal Hollerich did not address the warnings of hybrid threats to the European Union, but rather called for greater solidarity with migrants, insisting that "being European means putting solidarity into practice."
41% : "Their right to seek asylum must be protected and states must respect the principle of non-deportation of people in danger back to their country of origin," the Jesuit cardinal said.
38% : "At the same time, our migration and asylum policy must be abuse-resistant."

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