Catholic Bishops Rebuke U.S. ‘Mass Deportation’ of Immigrants

America’s Roman Catholic bishops on Wednesday rebuked the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign in a rare and near-unanimous statement that framed the immigration crisis in starkly moral terms.

The statement, passed at the bishops’ annual conference in Baltimore, did not call out President Trump by name, but the context was clear. The bishops said they “oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people” and “pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement.”

“We as Catholic bishops love our country and pray for its peace and prosperity,” the statement said. “For this very reason, we feel compelled now in this environment to raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity.”

The bishops, who were often divided by American politics in the Pope Francis era, showed a united front in standing behind Pope Leo XIV, the first pope from the United States, who has spoken out for immigrants and urged U.S. bishops to do the same.

The statement, called a special message, is a rare pastoral document that the bishops can issue only at their annual meeting, in order to address pressing circumstances of the day.

The last time they issued one was in 2013, in opposition to the contraceptive coverage mandate of the Affordable Care Act under President Barack Obama.

For months, Catholic bishops have pushed back against the federal actions. Prelates have accompanied migrants to courthouses and protested Mr. Trump’s domestic policy bill in Congress. But this action sends a particularly strong message not only to the administration, which includes many high-profile Catholics, but also to the millions of the church’s immigrant families.

The statement outlined a litany of concerns, which many bishops see as more pastoral than political.

“We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement,” it said. “We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants.  {snip}

{snip}

The statement overwhelmingly passed, with 216 anonymous votes in favor. Five bishops voted no, and three abstained.

{snip}

Before the vote on the statement on immigration, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, the newly elected president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the room, “I am strongly in support of it.”

Pope Leo expressed a specific desire for the bishops to give a united statement on the issue last month {snip}

{snip}