Catholic Charities Will Visit Central America and Investigate Causes of the Region’s Great Migration

By Alexander Parisel

 

Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, Executive Director of the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, announced Thursday that a coalition of Catholic and labor leaders will visit Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to observe the challenges people are experiencing there and understand why they are emigrating to the United States.

“We know the global issues, but we’re going to learn things that are surprising and hopefully what we learn can impact what we’re doing here,” said Sullivan.

Sullivan will be joined by the Archbishop of New York, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, as well as New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli  and the head of the Re

tail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Stuart Appelbaum.

“We’re leaving the day after Easter, which is Passover,” said Appelbaum. “This is significant because Passover was a story of migration as well.”

The hope of the delegation is to learn, on the ground, what is happening in the so-called Northern Triangle, and understand the push factors and also somehow bring together families that were separated at the border.

Last year around 400 children were separated from their parents and reunited with help from Catholic Charities, it was said at the gathering on Thursday.

“They are pretty much, I can’t say every one of the full 400, but they are back with their families, thanks be to God,” said Sullivan.