Catholic Church Misfires Badly On Trump’s Immigration Enforcement

With a low-key liberal American Pope Leo in the Vatican, we can expect him to criticize President Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement and deportation campaign. I was expecting less vocal criticism from the now conservative-leaning U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

But they too are hitting Trump on immigration, issuing a group statement expressing “concern here for immigrants” and condemning what they call “indiscriminate mass deportation.”

Though they don’t mention Trump by name, our Catholic border czar, Tom Homan, is hitting back.

“The Catholic Church is wrong,” Homan told reporters. “I’m a lifelong Catholic, but I’m saying it not only as a border czar, but I’m also saying this as a Catholic,” he added.

And Homan is right.

The Church’s traditional theology of helping and supporting the poor and unrepresented is well known. And I, for one, a conservative Catholic, don’t have any problem with the Church providing social and pastoral services to anyone in need, including illegal immigrants. It is a key Church mission.

My problem is with the Church entering the political sphere of policy when the issue isn’t morally or scripturally clear-cut, like abortion, which involves the fundamental issue of the dignity of life itself.

But condemning a country’s enforcement of its immigration laws is not the same. This is a far more complex moral and legal subject. The Church is essentially promoting an open border without restrictions, encouraging illegal entry and resistance to federal authority.

Supporting anyone to break our laws is unacceptable. And blaming the enforcers for arresting and deporting those who break our laws is even worse.

Asking that we change our immigration laws is fine, but don’t condemn our enforcement of the law. That verges on inciting insurrection. As Homan has stated, the Trump administration’s immigration policy “saves lives” and is more humane than the Biden administration’s approach.

Homan argued that desperate migrants often rely on hyper-violent drug cartels to smuggle them across the border under extremely dangerous conditions, with more than 4,000 dying during those treks during Biden’s term. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Americans have died from fentanyl smuggled across the border.

We must protect our borders and ensure vetted entry. “Secure border saves lives. I wish the Catholic Church would understand that.” Homan said.

By encouraging open borders, the Church is encouraging violent drug cartels to operate inside the U.S. from Mexico and elsewhere. A huge number of those arrested and deported have been violent criminals.

Sadly, with some slightly different wording, the bishops’ statement would have been more acceptable to many American Catholics, such as me.

In their statement, the bishops said:

We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people. We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement. Catholic teaching exhorts nations to recognize the fundamental dignity of all persons, including immigrants. We bishops advocate for a meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws and procedures. Human dignity and national security are not in conflict. Both are possible if people of good will work together.

Well, to begin with, the federal deportation effort isn’t an “indiscriminate mass deportation of people.” It is focused exclusively on removing illegal aliens, who have no right to be here, and any other immigrants who have violated the laws of the United States and are therefore legally subject to deportation.

By removing that stupid sentence, the bishops would have made a very different statement. But with it, they are condemning lawful efforts and defending illegality.

The same should be said for dropping their constant conflation of legal and illegal immigrants under the term “immigrants.” There is a clear distinction and blurring it deliberately confuses the issue.

As Homan said in response to the bishops, “If you get ordered removed by a federal judge after due process, don’t worry about us, because there should not be mass deportations. Is that the message you send to the whole world?”

Homan then urged the Church to “fix itself” before criticizing U.S. immigration policy and accused its leaders of hypocrisy, noting that the Vatican, an independent microstate in Italy, imposes harsh penalties for illegal entry and trespassing on its territory.

The Vatican is essentially saying, “rules for thee, not for me.”

The rest of the bishops’ statement isn’t so bad. I can’t argue with encouraging the ending “dehumanizing rhetoric and violence” against immigrants or law enforcement.

Though if calling illegal immigrants “illegal,” rather than a euphemism like “undocumented,” and saying they have to go home, is “dehumanizing,” and arresting them forcefully when they resist apprehension, is considered “violence,” then I have a problem with all that.

To be clear, most of the unlawful violence has been, and continues to be, against law enforcement, not illegal immigrants.

And yes, Catholic teaching exhorts all to recognize the fundamental dignity of all persons, including immigrants. I would say legal immigrants and illegal immigrants, and not conflate the two. But that idea is fine. Everyone deserves dignity.

However, getting arrested and deported for illegal entry and illegal residence does not violate anyone’s fundamental human dignity, the same as arresting a suspected criminal doesn’t either. They are simply paying the stated penalty for breaking the law.

Finally, the bishops’ plea for meaningful reform of our immigration laws and procedures is a valid request. Of course, we can and should do that. And yes, national security and human dignity don’t have to be in conflict.

But by simply jumping on the anti-lawful immigration enforcement bandwagon, without the clear distinctions I noted, the bishops and the pope are in effect supporting and encouraging rioting, violent opposition to law enforcement, and basically insurrection by American citizens and noncitizens against lawful U.S. federal authority. All while condemning law enforcement and our leaders.

And that is simply wrong.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

READ NEXT: Congresswoman Criminally Charged With Stealing Millions