General
Testimony of Auxiliary Bishop Elizondo to Senate Judiciary Committee on Ongoing Syrian Refugee Crisis (2014)
Testimony of Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, Chairman, USCCB Committee on Migration to Senate Judiciary Committee on Ongoing Syrian Refugee Crisis, January 7, 2014
Catholics and all Christians are reminded this time of year when celebrating the birth of Jesus, that one of Jesus’ first experiences as an infant was to flee for his life from King Herod with his family to Egypt. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were refugees in the Middle East and faced some of the same fear, uncertainty, and dislocation as the millions of Syrians imperiled by this crisis face today. The situation is especially urgent given the unprecedented size, complexity, and rate of growth of the displaced population. There were 550,000 Syrian refugees in the region when we visited in October 2012. After little more than a year, the number of Syrian refugees has grown to 2.3 million, including 1.1 million children, 75% of whom are less than 12 years old.
The Catholic Church is a migrant and refugee church. The Catholic Church in the United States, for example, is made up of more than 58 ethnic groups from throughout the world, including Asia, Africa, the Near East, the Middle East, and Latin America. I myself am from Latin America.
We have a long history of involvement in refugee and child protection, both in the advocacy arena and in welcoming and integrating waves of immigrants and refugees who have helped build our nation as one that embraces ethnic diversity while sharing common values. Migration and Refugee Services of USCCB (USCCB/MRS) is the largest U.S. refugee resettlement agency, resettling one million of the three million refugees who have come to our country since 1975, and is a national leader in caring for unaccompanied refugee and migrant children. We work with over 100 Catholic Charities across the country to welcome and serve refugees and unaccompanied alien children.