The plight of unaccompanied minors fleeing to the United States from Central America has made headlines recently. These vulnerable children are the faces of the growing desperation in places such as El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

The number of unaccompanied children fleeing their home countries has alarmingly increased- numbers arriving to the U.S. have doubled every year since 2011. This year alone, as many as 90,000 children could arrive, creating a humanitarian crisis in need of our attention.

The Catholic Church is responding to the plight of these children based on the principles of Catholic social teaching-that all people have a right to migrate, but also the right not to migrate and to meet their needs where they are.

Photo by Silverlight for CRS

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops/Migration and Refugee Services has deep pastoral concerns, grounded in extensive child welfare and service experience with this highly vulnerable child population. As the nation's largest refugee resettlement agency, MRS has resettled 1 million of the 3 million refugees in the United States in recent years. It also has decades of experience partnering with the U.S. government to provide services to unaccompanied children. See also the Justice for Immigrants website for resources en Español.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS en Español), the international relief and development agency of the Catholic community in the U.S., directly addresses the reasons why children make the perilous journey to the United States. In response to high youth unemployment and mounting violence in Central America and the Caribbean, CRS has implemented innovative programs for young people at risk.

Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) sees the incredible influx of unaccompanied minors crossing the border to this country as a Humanitarian Crisis, and is fully engaged in activities both at the national and local level responding to the needs of the thousands of children and families coming to this country in search of a better and safe life.

CCUSA's Disaster Operations team has been responding to this crisis since early June, coordinating with local Charities agencies to provide a range of support. In July, when JBLM was under consideration to provide housing for some of the unaccompanied children, CCUSA teamed with our local Charities agency Catholic Community Services of Western Washington to begin organizing staff and volunteers and coordinate critical services. Since that time, a decision was made not to use JBLM as a shelter site.

Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley and Catholic Social Services of Laredo are currently providing a range of services, including: shelter, food, clean clothing, hygiene supplies, bilingual staff and volunteers, and information regarding legal rights and resources. CCUSA continues to collaborate with government agencies and other U.S. Catholic Church organizations and service providers to identify and work towards long-term solutions to this crisis.

• Advocate: Your voice makes a difference! Send a message to Congress urging them to protect unaccompanied children and address the root causes of why so many children are leaving their homes.
• Pray for these children as they face violence and seek safety in the United States. We invite you to share these prayer resources with your parish community, friends and family members.
  • Prayer Intentions for Unaccompanied Children
  • Prayer Cards

Photo by Sara A. Fajardo for CRS

Support the important work the Church is doing to help these vulnerable children by donating to the National Catholic Migration Fund, Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities agencies today.