SILVER SPRING, Maryland — Texas Governor Abbott issued an executive order directing the Texas Department of Public Safety to stop any vehicle “upon reasonable suspicion” of transporting “migrants who have been detained by CBP for crossing the border illegally or who would have been subject to expulsion under Title 42.”

The following is a statement from State and Local Advocacy Attorney Viviana Westbrook:

“This order is an affront to human dignity and morality. It promotes racial profiling and punishes organizations, including CLINIC affiliates, for providing vital, life-saving services to immigrants. Villainizing people fleeing violence, extreme poverty and environmental disasters makes our communities less safe and our country less strong. This order, its origins and its goals are a direct attack on all of us, undermining the core value shared by Catholics and other people of faith across this country — we can and must welcome.”