Little Rock bishop encourages people to look at immigrants as people and not enemies. Listen to our summary in Marshallese or continue to read in Marshallese or English.

Bishop eo an Catholic ilo Diocese Little Rock Anthony B. Taylor eaar kwaḷọk an naan ilo juon an enaan ilo kar Jan 24, 2026 kōn kakien kein rekāāl an kien eo an America ikijjien iakwelel kein kōn immigration, refugees, (jipọkwe ak ri koṇe ro jān likin America) kakien ko ñan border eo, im kakien kāāl ko ñan ra ko jet an Kien. Ilo kōnono kein an, eaar kwaḷọk jet waanjoñak ko jān tōre ko jeṃaan im jet bwebwenato in baaṃle eo an make, ñan kakōl kōj ewi wāwein an mijak im jebel bōro kar bōk jikin ioon armej. Eaar ekōṃṃan bwe ren kejekdoon im kōwaan jiṃwe im maroñ an doon ilo tōre ko.

Catholic Bishop Anthony B. Taylor of the Diocese of Little Rock issued a statement on Jan. 24, 2026 responding to current U.S. government policies and debate related to immigration, refugees, border enforcement, and political division. In it, he gives historical examples, some from his own family history, to warn about how fear and division have led to serious human rights abuses in the past.

Ilo enaan kein an, Bishop Taylor eaar ba: Kien eo an America kiiō ej pād ilo juon wāwein eo ej bōk jikin ilo juon jepeḷḷọk eo eḷap ikōtaan elōñ armej,  im ekōṃṃan menin aer ejaak political party ko rej juṃae doon ilo an pen aer roñjake doon im jab kautiej doon. Jepeḷḷọk in ekakkure wāwein mour jiṃwe im bedbed in ippān doon eo an laḷ in ad im kōṃṃan an kiiō pen kōjparok jiṃwe ko an armej. 

In this statement, Bishop Taylor says: the United States is experiencing deep division with people split into opposing political sides and have difficulty listening to or respecting one another. This division is damaging the moral and social foundations of the country and makes it harder to protect human dignity.

Ro uwaan baaṃle in an ilo Poland raar kajeoñ ko jān an Nazi ro man er ilo kar bata eo kein karuo bōtaap raar jab maroñ tōpar border ko repaake jikin ko jet (other countries). Ewōr 20 ro ri likin (cousin) ḷōḷḷap eo jiṃaan raar mej im jako ilo iuṃwin kien eo an Hitler. Kōn ke rejjab maroñ kar ko, kar jibwe er im jilkinḷọk er ñan jikin kalbuuj ko an Nazi ijo raar man er ie. Eaar kwaḷọk bwebwenato in ilo an kajeoñ kwaḷọk an naan in kakōl ke bebe kein an kien eo ikijjien border ko im armej ro rej ko tok jān laḷ ko aer remaroñ jelet er eḷaññe remaroñ mej ak mour. 

Members of his family in Poland tried to escape Nazi persecution during World War II but were unable to cross closed borders into other countries. His grandfather’s 20 cousins died in the Holocaust. Because they could not find refuge, they returned to their village and four years later they were caught up in a mass deportation and sent to a Nazi extermination camp where they were killed. He shares this story to show how government decisions about borders and refugees can have life-or-death consequences.

Hitler ekkar lo im kōjerbal mijak im illu ko an juon laḷ eo ekar kōṇaan bar bōk lōñtak ḷap im utiej kab kajur eo an, ālikin an kar luuj ilo kōbata eo an laḷ in kein karuo. Ekar akwelap ilo an kōnono im kareel bōruōn armej ro ilo laḷ eo an kōn juon ijjino eo ekāāl ñan er. Eaar kwaḷọk an kajirere im kwaḷọk elōñ kain riab ko kōn kajojo doulul in armej ro ilo laḷ ko jet im tōmak ko aer. Ekkar kamijak ro raar juṃae E ilo jeban kien eo, im jilikinḷọk er ñan jikin kalibuuj ko. Ekar bar āinwōt bōk kien eo im erom juon dictator (juon ri tōl eo eaar bōk jea in tōl eo an kōn maroñ im jab jān kelet an armej).

Hitler took advantage of the fears and anger of a country that wanted to regain its greatness after its losses in WWI. He appealed to them with talk of a pure country and mocked and spread lies about groups of people who were different races and religions. He intimidated and threatened those who opposed him in government and sent them to concentration camps. He also took over the legal system and became a dictator.

Bishop in ej juon iaan ro rej advocate ak kwaḷọk im rie kakien ko kōn immigration ñan eṃṃanḷọk eo an ri likin ro im baaṃle ko aer. Eaar ba naan kein: “Eṃakūt jān juon jikin ñan bar juon jikin ñan pukot jekjek/wāwein im kilen mour ko reṃṃan ḷọk ej ṃōttan wōt mour in im bwebwenato in mour an armej.” Eaar kwaḷọk jet waanjoñak kōn ta eo ej bōk jikin ilo aer kiil border ko. Armej ro rej ko jān laḷ ko aer im kajeoñ pukot aer mour tok ijokein rej mej. Ilo 1930 jima ko, eaar wōr juon tima eo ewōr 937 armej in Jew ie ro raar kajeoñ ko jān Germany. Tima in raar kōrọọle im jab kadelọñe ilo Cuba, America, im Canada. Kōn menin raar bar rọọl ñan Europe kan. Jet iaan rein ilo tima in raar maroñ ko nan laḷ ko jet ilo Europe akō 1 jān 4 iaan kajojo armej rein raar mej iuṃwin pein kien eo.

The Bishop advocates for immigration policies that consider the impact on people and families. He says: “Migration is an inherent part of the human condition and human history.”  He gives an example of how closing borders to refugees resulted in their deaths. In the 1930s, a German ship that had 937 Jewish refugees trying to leave Germany was turned away by Cuba, the United States, and Canada. They returned to Europe. Some of them were able to go to other European countries, but 1 out of 4 of them died in the Holocaust.

Bishop in ej kemlet im lukkun kalikkar ke, America eo rainin ejjab āinwōt Germany eo ilo 1930 jima ko, im ej kwaḷọk an kakkōl, bwe ejja kain jekjek kab ṃōṇakjān ko kein im rej bōk jikier ilo wāwein an armej lale doon rainin āinwōt juon men ekamijak ilo aer lale im jab kalimjek er āinwōt armej. Bar laḷ in an America ebar wōr an bwenwenato ikijjien jab jerbal ilo jiṃwe. Lukkun Armej in America ro akō ri Indian ro rekkar kōṃṃakūt im kōbaj ḷọk er jān bwidej ko aer im ijoko jikier, im elōñ wōt iaer rekker jako ilo ijo ṇae etan Iaḷan Kemjalal (Trail of Tears).  Elōñ million ri Africa rekkar ri-kōmakoko im kuli kake er. Raar wia kake er im leto letak er jān jikin ñan jikin ilo iien aer wiakake; barāinwōt ri Japan ro raar ḷotak ilo America ro kar bar kalibuuj er ilo jikin kalbuuj ko an ri tariṇae ro ilo kar bata eo an laḷin kein karuo, im ruo iaan jikin kalibuuj kein rej pād ilo Arkansas. Wanjoñak kein rej kwaḷọk wāwein an kar mijak im jerbal in kalijokḷọk kakkure mour ilo elōñ jukjuk in pād ko kar ilo tōre ko. 

He emphasized that the United States today is not the same as Germany in the 1930s but warned that similar patterns can appear when people are treated as threats rather than as human beings. The United States also has a history of injustice: Native American nations were forced from their land and many died on the Trail of Tears; millions of Africans were enslaved through the transatlantic slave trade; and Japanese Americans were imprisoned in internment camps during World War II (two of these camps were in Arkansas). These examples show how fear and discrimination have harmed entire communities in the past.

Eaar likūt enaan eo jān Pope Leo XIV ilo Jan 9 raan eo: Pope Leo XIV enaan eo eaar waḷọk ilo Jan. 9 eo ḷọk ñan ro uwaan Papal Diplomatic Corps eo eñiin eaar rujañ aolep bwe ren ettōr ṃaan ḷọk wōt ilo aer aenōṃṃan im lọọr katak ko an Jisōs āinwōt an ba jipañ ro ri jeraṃool, ro ri aikuj, im ro ruwamejet, ej āinwōt ñe kōn kar kōṃṃane ñan Iroj Anij. Ej walok ilo: Matu 25:35. Pope in eaar ba:”Ij jar bwe jen jino ad kalimjek ri likin rein im jipọkwe rein ilo aer pād iọlapid āinwōt jet ro rejjab ad ri kōjdrat ak āinwōt ‘ro jet’. Im jab kōn an oktak kōḷar in kilier ak kilen im wāwein aer kōnaan (kajin eo aer). Im jab āinwōt ro rekauwōtata. Ak jen lo er āinwōt ro kōṃanṃan ilo jekkein im nememein wōt Iroj Anij eo ad.

He shared an address from Pope Leo XIV on Jan.9:Pope Leo XIV’s Jan. 9 address to the Papal Diplomatic Corps and he encouraged all to strive toward peace as a good in itself and to follow Jesus’s teaching that any service to the poor, the needy and the foreigner is a service to God:  Matthew 25:35. “I pray that we will begin to look at the immigrants and refugees in our midst not as enemies or as ‘other.’ Not as different in color or in accent. Not as dangers or risks. But as created in the image and likeness of [our] God.”