Bishops: Trump advanced gender‑policy freedoms while eroding protections for migrants

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued its annual report on religious liberty this week and concluded that President Donald Trump’s administration has enhanced religious freedom in some ways and weakened it in others.

The Feb. 17 “State of Religious Liberty in the United States” report by the USCCB Committee for Religious Liberty listed the administration’s “steps to combat gender ideology” as one of the positive changes. The report expressed concerns about the administration’s mass deportation policies.

The USCCB’s 2026 report also warned of threats to religious liberty, citing alarming incidents of violence targeting Catholic institutions — such as a shooter opening fire on a school Mass in Minneapolis and a man armed with explosives outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.

“All of these developments are taking place as Americans prepare to celebrate 250 years as [an] independent nation,” Archbishop Alexander Sample, the committee chair, wrote in the forward for the report.

“It is a fitting time to reflect on the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence and how those ideals have shaped the unique culture that has grown over the past two-and-a-half centuries,” he continued. “For Catholics, it is an opportunity to reflect on how the Church has enriched American life.”

Gender identity

The committee noted that one of its biggest concerns in the 2025 report was “gender ideology,” but those concerns have eased due to executive actions taken under the Trump administration.

“Policies on gender identity implicate religious liberty when religious individuals and organizations are forced to defend their recognition of sexual difference,” it stated.

The report noted that Trump rescinded executive orders by former President Joe Biden, one of which had previously interpreted “sex” discrimination to include discrimination based on one’s self-asserted “gender identity,” which affected federal contracts and education policy on gender.

Trump went in the opposite direction, it noted, enforcing sex-based distinctions on “the biological reality of sex” rather than “gender identity.” He “took steps to protect girls’ and women’s sports” by separating male and female sports on the basis of biological differences, it added.

The report also commended the administration for investigating a state health department for allegedly “discriminating against faith-based organizations in the administration and/or enforcement of licensing requirements, including requiring any facilitation of sex-rejecting procedures.”

The bishops also expressed optimism about the work of the president’s Anti-Christian Bias Task Force, the Religious Liberty Commission, and the White House Faith Office.

Two decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court were also cited as positive developments for religious freedom.

In Mahmoud v. Taylor, the Supreme Court ordered a Maryland school district to let parents opt their children out of course material that was promoting gender ideology, the report added. In Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Commission, the court required the state to recognize a Catholic charitable organization as a religious entity.

The committee also stated that the inclusion of the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit in the 2025 budget reconciliation bill provides more choices for parents but that it also needs to be revised to provide more religious liberty protections to ensure that states do not discriminate against faith-based schools.

Areas of concern

The biggest religious liberty concerns expressed by the bishops were related to immigration policy.

It noted that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rescinded guidelines that previously limited immigration enforcement at “sensitive locations,” including churches. Although the report stated there were not any known enforcement operations within Catholic churches, there have been a few arrests on church grounds, which has caused fear for some parishioners.

“Anecdotal reports suggest a drop in attendance at Mass in some dioceses and parish communities because of parishioners’ fears of [immigration] enforcement, whether at or traveling to and from church,” the report stated.

Some bishops have granted Mass dispensations to people who fear they may be deported.

The committee expressed concern about detainees and their ability to access the sacraments. It specifically cited the Broadview immigration facility in Illinois, where clergy could not get permission to enter for months. A court order required DHS to allow them to enter for Ash Wednesday and to accommodate them at later dates.

The report said that “while nations have a responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just … immigration system, there must also be basic agreement” on protecting immigrants’ dignity and sacramental access.

Other concerns cited by the committee included some states threatening the seal of confession by trying to force priests to report information about sexual abuse learned in confession, and state-level mandates that seek to force organizations to include abortion coverage in their health care plans.