Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 14, 2025 / 15:13 pm (CNA).
Border czar Tom Homan strongly opposed the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) “special message” on immigration, saying the statement would encourage people to make a dangerous trek to the United States.
Homan told EWTN News on Nov. 14 that the “Catholic Church is wrong. I’m sorry. I’m a lifelong Catholic. I’m saying it as not only a border czar. I’ll say it as a Catholic. I think they need to spend time fixing Catholic Church in my opinion.”
The bishops approved the message on immigration at the 2025 Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 12. “We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people,” the message said.
More than 95% of the American bishops voted to support the message. The bishops said in the message they “are bound to our people by ties of communion and compassion in Our Lord Jesus Christ” and “are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants.”
The bishops’ message cited Scripture such as Luke 10:30-37, referring to the good Samaritan who “lifts us from the dust,” and Matthew 25, in which “we see the One who is found in the least of these.” Floor debate on the measure included bishops’ discussion of “the One” referring to the face of Jesus Christ as seen in the migrant.
“The Church’s concern for neighbor and our concern here for immigrants is a response to the Lord’s command to love as he has loved us (John 13:34),” the statement said.
Homan said: “So according to [the bishops] the message we should send to the whole world is: ‘If you cross the border illegally, which is a crime, don’t worry about it. If you get … removed by a federal judge, that’s due process, don’t worry about it, because there shouldn’t be mass deportations.’”
He added: “If that’s the message we send the whole world, people are still going to put themselves in harm’s way to come to the greatest nation on earth.”
“We saw during the Biden administration, when there was no immigration enforcement, over 4,000 aliens died making that journey” and “40 million Americans died from fentanyl,” Homan said. Homan said he wants the Catholic Church to understand that secure borders save lives.
U.S. bishops acknowledged the need for secure borders in their special message, writing: “We recognize that nations have a responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system for the sake of the common good.”
Homan said: “We’re going to enforce the law, and by doing that, we’re saving a lot of lives. One of the reasons no one talks about why we have the most secure border in the history of this nation is because [of] exactly what ICE is doing.”
“ICE has sent a message to the whole world: ‘Don’t give your life savings to come to [the] country, because you’re not gonna be released. You’re not going to cross [the] border illegally. You’re going to be prosecuted,’” Homan said.
President Donald Trump expanded use of deportations without a court hearing this year and ramped up federal law enforcement efforts to identify and arrest immigrants lacking legal status. The administration set a goal of 1 million deportations this year.
Besides criticizing the bishops’ opposition to indiscriminate mass deportation, Trump administration officials also have condemned an “activist judge” who issued a temporary restraining order mandating cleanliness and hygiene standards as well as adequate legal representation at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Illinois. Court records, advocacy groups, and detainees’ reports have included claims about the stench of sweat, urine, and feces at U.S. immigration facilities, worm-infested slop, and an insufficient supply of menstrual products.
‘Worst of the worst’
Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to CNA: “DHS is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens — including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists. 70% of illegal aliens ICE arrested across the country have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges just in the U.S. This statistic doesn’t account for those wanted for violent crimes in their home country or another country, INTERPOL notices, human rights abusers, gang members, terrorists, etc. The list goes on.”
McLaughlin said: “We are a nation of laws, and, as America’s largest law enforcement agency, DHS is committed to enforcing those laws, all of which are just. Lawbreakers should unquestionably be living in a ‘climate of fear and anxiety,’ that they will be caught and sent home.”
In San Bernardino, California, Bishop Alberto Rojas granted a dispensation in July from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass for those within the diocese who fear deportation. The Diocese of Nashville, Tennessee, similarly indicated in May that “no Catholic is obligated to attend Mass on Sunday if doing so puts their safety at risk.”
Pope Leo XIV on Nov. 4 said: “Many people who’ve lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what’s going on right now.” Leo invited authorities to allow pastoral workers to attend to the needs of detainees.
He reminded that “Jesus says very clearly … at the end of the world, we’re going to be asked … how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or not? And I think that there’s a deep reflection that needs to be made in terms of what’s happening.”
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Legal immigration is consistent with Catholic Teaching.
Illegal immigration, since it violates a country’s laws, is immoral.
What’s not to understand?
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2241:
The more prosperous nations are obliged, TO THE EXTENT THEY ARE ABLE, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places A GUEST under the protection of those who receive him.
POLITICAL AUTHORITIES, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate SUBJECT TO VARIOUS JURIDICAL CONDITIONS, especially with regard to THE IMMIGRANTS’ DUTIES TOWARD THEIR COUNTRY OF ADOPTION. IMMIGRANTS ARE OBLIGED TO RESPECT WITH GRATITUDE THE MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL HERITAGE OF THE COUNTRY THAT RECEIVES THEM, TO OBEY ITS LAWS AND TO ASSIST IN CARRYING CIVIC BURDENS.
The capitalized parts seem to escape episcopal attention. I’m not sure they are the best judges of capacity for starters:
These are the American Dioceses that are in have been in bankruptcy.
Diocese of Buffalo, NY
Archdiocese of New Orleans, LA
Diocese of Santa Rosa, CA
Diocese of Albany, NY
Diocese of Oakland, CA
Diocese of Ogdensburg, NY
Archdiocese of San Francisco, CA
Archdiocese of Baltimore, MD
Diocese of Sacramento, CA
Diocese of San Diego, CA
Diocese of Burlington, VT
Diocese of Fresno, CA
Diocese of Alexandria, LA
Concluded Cases (chronological order by date of filing)
Archdiocese of Portland, OR
Diocese of Tucson, AZ
Diocese of Spokane, WA
Diocese of Davenport, IA
Diocese of San Diego, CA (voluntarily dismissed)
Diocese of Fairbanks, AK
Diocese of Wilmington, DE
Archdiocese of Milwaukee, WI
Diocese of Gallup, NM
Diocese of Stockton, CA
Diocese of Helena, MT
Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, MN
Diocese of Duluth, MN
Diocese of New Ulm, MN
Diocese of Great Falls Billings, MT
Diocese of Winona-Rochester, MN
Archdiocese of Santa Fe, NM
Archdiocese of Agana, Guam
Diocese of Rochester, NY
Diocese of Harrisburg, PA
Diocese of St. Cloud, MN
Diocese of Syracuse, NY
Diocese of Rockville Centre, NY
Diocese of Camden, NJ
Diocese of Norwich, CT
That’s too simplistic. Yes, illegal immigration should not be tolerated. The next questions deal with what a nation’s immigration policies should be. How many legal immigrants should be allowed in every year? Should preference be given to certain cultural, religious and ethnic groups? It is pretty clear that no Western nation ought to be bringing in Muslims, for example. You could “solve” the illegal immigration crisis by implementing the open borders system that the bishops and Pope want and that Angela Merkel imposed on Germany starting in 2015. The immigration debate also almost completely ignores the rights and interests of native populations. The tacit assumption is that the cultural, economic, security, political and environmental costs to the host countries and their native populations should be borne without complaint.
Immigration is a very complex issue, with many different dimensions. You would never know that if you only followed contemporary church statements on it, loaded as they are with platitudes and appeals to emotion. Most of the larger related Catholic discussion is not much better.
Matthew 23:13 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! .
Vatican Promises Stiff Penalties for Illegal Aliens Crossing its Border
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2025/01/16/vatican-promises-stiff-penalties-for-illegal-aliens-crossing-its-border/
Jesus is pretty clear on marriage too. Why no special message to James Martin?
Homan makes good points.
Does the federal government offer oodles of money for assisting newlyweds?
It’s a strange world where government officials do a better job of enunciating common sense than do our bishops.
We know one thing: Tom Holman hasn’t been profiting over importing slave labor into the USA like our bishops have.
Tom Holman hasn’t been creating cobditions where women are being raped; our bishops have.
Tom Holman hasn’t been importing illegal aliens who murder our cirizens; our bishops have.
Tom Holman hasn’t been trafficking in children as sex toys; our bishops have.
Tom Holman hasn’t destabilized our social fabric by importing millions upon millions of illegals who consume resources they are not entitled to; our bishops have.
Our bishops weren’t able to stop clergy from molesting our children but they think they occupy the high moral ground on immigration; they don’t.
I would humbly suggest two points that weigh on my mind:
1. The horrific illegal immigration mess created by the disgusting Biden administration had, in all justice and righteousness,to be addressed and corrected.
2. The methods and practices the Trump administration has employed to deal with this admittedly huge problem—no due process, inhuman conditions in detention facilities, separation of family members, sending Hispanic immigrants to war-torn African countries, etc.—does not manifest justice and righteousness.
What specific evidence do you have for your assertions in point 2? They sound like NPR talking points. What proof do you have that this is what’s happening?
The evidence if you wish to see it is publicly available. Check out the AI overview of this topic. Better yet, see William’s comment below.
So that would be a “no.”
The USCCB has all of the credibility of a bureaucracy that appoints a sexually perverted man as its Secretary General (btw in charge of the USCCB policy making on “protection of minors,” etc).
Per this recent reminder:
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/pillar-investigates-usccb-gen-sec
The US has a right to deport illegal aliens, but it also has an obligation for humane treatment of them. Family separation, sleeping on concrete floors,etc, should not happen. Finally, there should be a path to citizenship for those who have been here 2o years, paid taxes, not been arrested, etc. We need sensible immigration law, which Congress seems unable to enact.
There is already a path to citizenship for people who have been here for 20 years. They should avail themselves of that process. No amnesty or special treatment. And no one is sleeping on concrete or separating children. Holman has made it clear that fa.klues will be deported together.
You may know that anyone arrested for a crime is separated from his family.
Do you object to the family separation caused by a citizen of a crime? Correctional facilities are filled with inmates who caused their separation.
When will the Bishops object to the far less tender policies of Mexico or the Vatican?
How about the family separation caused by domestic courts that do nothing to prevent the frustration of visitation by non-custodial parents (usually the father).
Where was this Episcopal missive when the FBI brown shirts sent a small army to arrest Mark Houck in front of his children and then used the obnoxious “FACE” Act to legally harass him?
It seems like a sizeable number of Bishops is have traded in their Catholic Mission to be part of the Anti- American Deep State.
The Trump administration is not engaging in indiscriminate mass deportation. They are only deporting those non-citizens who entered illegally, or remained illegally.
As far as poor conditions go, yes, I expect there are some poor conditions, and it would be much better to have better conditions. Also, when was the last time the USCCB complained about the conditions in federal prisons and NYC, Washington D.C., and California prisons? California prisons have a higher death rate, and have for some time. Overcrowding is rife. Have they issued any official joint statements regarding the women’s prisons for US citizens where rapist men are placed with women (usually victims of rape, domestic abuse or both), or the lack of provided menstrual products in women’s prisons? Their attention seems to be directed, not to the most vulnerable, but to the most politically useful.