“We see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement”. Thus begins the “Special Message” approved with an overwhelming majority by the US bishops gathered in Baltimore for their Fall Plenary Assembly. For the first time since 2013, with 216 votes in favor, 5 against, and 3 abstentions, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) decided to invoke this instrument reserved for times of particular urgency. The bishops say they “are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants” and denounce the conditions in detention centers, the lack of pastoral care, and the arbitrary loss of legal status by some families. “We are grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school”, they go on to write, stressing that Catholic teaching “exhorts nations to recognize the fundamental dignity of all persons”. While acknowledging the responsibility of States to regulate their borders, they stress that “human dignity and national security are not in conflict”. The Message points to Scripture: the priority of the Lord is for “the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the stranger”. To immigrants, the bishops say: “You are not alone!”.