By Coakley discussed immigration on EWTN’s “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo.”
Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), addressed the loss of federal grant money for refugee resettlement and ongoing deportation efforts from President Donald Trump’s administration during an EWTN interview Aug. 13.
In 2024, the USCCB received more than $180 million in funding for government contracts, most of which supported services for migrants and refugee resettlement. When Trump took office, the president ended most of those contracts.
In an interview on “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo,” the archbishop said “we are no longer receiving those dollars, and we have, as a result, discontinued our resettlement services.”
“I donʼt think it has affected … our ability to continue our core mission, thatʼs for sure,” Coakley said. “But weʼll have to adjust our budgets and act accordingly.”
Coakley also addressed Trump’s immigration policy, saying nations have a right to control their borders but they should also be welcoming to immigrants.
“Every nation has a right to protect its sovereign borders, and we bishops have emphasized that again and again,” he said. “… People have a right to live in security in their own land.”
However, he also pointed to a USCCB special message on immigration, which the U.S. bishops approved in a 216-5 vote, which expressed opposition to “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.”
“[The message] called upon the bishops to continue to accompany and support migrants and assured migrants of our continued support and accompaniment,” Coakley said. “And thatʼs happening around the country in different places and certainly along the border in different ways.”
“Itʼs obviously a challenging situation, both for the people who are concerned about their safety and security within the borders of the United States, but also those who are seeking peace and security and safety by striving to become a part of our people and our culture, our nation,” he said.
“Weʼve always been a nation welcoming of immigrants,” the archbishop said.
“Weʼre all — all but a few of us — are from migrant immigrant families,” Coakley said. “So we have a sensitivity as Americans to the plight of immigrants on both sides of the border.”
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Since when did Jesus commission his prelates to resettle people? If the bishops object to mass deportation, they should also object to mass migration. If bishops truly concerned themselves with the Great Commission AS COMMANDED BY CHRIST, they wouldn’t worry about ANY of this. Their job is to MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS. Is this not their job? How does blather about migration, resettlement, immigration, or deportation relate to making disciples of ALL NATIONS?
I think our bishops need catechesis.
This and other bishops believe that we do not have enough bad people in the U.S. so we need to import more from among those who show their lack of respect for neighbors when they violate our laws to enter our country, instead of going to an American consulate and applying for a visa, or in cases of true political persecution, asking for asylum at said consulate or embassy. This is of course the legal and indeed moral way. See more horrors below on fraud and crime including child trafficking, abetted by the U.S. bishops and all those who adopt their stance, who endanger us, our wives, our children, our families and our nation:
—FBI Agents Arrest Illegal Alien Accused of Attempting to Rape Girl in Indiana
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2026/07/24/ice-fbi-agents-arrest-illegal-alien-accused-attempting-rape-girl-indiana/
The ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a teenage girl at Freedom Park in Idaho on Wednesday night appeared in court Friday. Lozano Flores illegally crossed the Democrat administration’s open southern border into New Mexico in 2023, but was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol and agreed to voluntarily return to Mexico, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has revealed. He then reentered the U.S. at an unknown location and date.
https://www.kivitv.com/news/local-news/in-your-neighborhood/ada-county/new-details-suspect-charged-in-freedom-park-sexual-assault-kidnapping-held-on-3-million-bail
ICE Agents Deport Illegal Aliens Convicted of Murder, Rape, Drug Trafficking
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/07/29/ice-agents-deport-illegal-alien-convicted-of-murder-rape-drug-trafficking/
ICE Deports Illegal Aliens Convicted of Kidnapping, Armed Assault, Cocaine Smuggling
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/07/31/ice-deports-illegal-aliens-convicted-of-kidnapping-armed-assault-cocaine-smuggling/
ICE Deports Illegal Alien Gang Members Convicted of Manslaughter, Attempted Murder, Rape
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/08/12/ice-deports-illegal-alien-gang-members-convicted-of-manslaughter-attempted-murder-rape/
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) DEPORTED SEVERAL ILLEGAL ALIENS LAST WEEK, INCLUDING THOSE CONVICTED OF HOMICIDE, RAPE, AND ANIMAL ABUSE, Breitbart News has learned. “In the last week alone, ICE has deported dangerous criminals from our country, including murderers, rapists, drug traffickers, and violent assailants,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/08/05/exclusive-ice-deports-illegal-aliens-convicted-homicide-rape-animal-abuse/
Democrat Administration-Parole Migrant Accused of Raping 2 Women in Salt Lake City, Utah
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/08/04/biden-parole-migrant-accused-of-raping-2-women-in-salt-lake-city-utah/
Turkish Illegal Unleashed by Democrat Administration Charged With Sexually Abusing 6-Year-Old at California Daycare. DHS said the child’s mother reported that Bagci “lured the girl into a closet pretending to play hide-and-seek, where he sexually assaulted her.””He then allegedly brought the girl into a bathroom and raped her that same day,” DHS SAID. BAGCI HAD BEEN REMOVED FROM THE COUNTRY BY THE U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION IN NOVEMBER 2023 AND AGAIN IN SEPTEMBER 2024.
https://borderhawk.news/exclusive-turkish-illegal-unleashed-by-biden-charged-with-sexually-abusing-6-year-old-at-california-daycare/
https://x.com/DHSgov
Indian National on Student Visa Accused of Murdering 19-Year-Old Julissa Salazar
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2026/08/12/report-indian-national-on-student-visa-accused-of-murdering-19-year-old-julissa-salazar/
Democrat administration’s Arab ‘Migrants’ Charged With Child Rape in Utah
https://borderhawk.news/bidens-arab-migrants-charged-with-child-rape-in-utah/
An illegal alien from Guatemala has been charged with committing heinous sex crimes against under 14 young victims in the state of Utah.
https://borderhawk.news/exclusive-previously-deported-guatemalan-charged-with-raping-underage-sisters-in-utah/
Illegal Alien Charged with Sexually Assaulting, Murdering 2-Year-Old Girl in Virginia
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2026/07/22/illegal-alien-charged-sexually-assaulting-murdering-2-year-old-girl-virginia/
— In 2024, the Inspector General recovered $1.4 billion in fraud in Michigan.
“stopped a $6.5 billion fraud ring in Texas with people overbilling”
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/08/12/peter-schweizer-the-war-on-fraud-continues-without-democrats-help/
Kentucky: Illegal Alien Accused of Raping, Sodomizing 15-Year-Old Girl
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/08/13/kentucky-illegal-alien-accused-raping-sodomizing-15-year-old-girl/