Will the Bishops Stand Up to Trump?
In January 2021, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote a letter to the newly inaugurated President Biden. The letter congratulated Biden but also called attention to his record on abortion. Some, including Cardinal Blase Cupich, considered the letter ill-advised, but I think that, in view of their prophetic office, the bishops were right to offer pastoral correction. Of course, unlike Biden, President Donald Trump is not a Catholic, but the bishops and lay Catholics should now be ready to call him to account, too. They could write a letter that welcomes the new president but also challenges him on several fronts—among them, his disregard for the poor, his increasingly ambiguous statements about abortion, his anti-democratic rhetoric and actions, and, most urgently, his targeting of immigrants and refugees.
The Church’s commitment to immigrants and refugees is not new. It is grounded in the Old Testament, which is mostly the story of refugees: Noah fleeing the flood, Abraham moving from Chaldea, the chosen people fleeing starvation into Egypt, fleeing oppression into Sinai, migrating into the land of the Canaanites, being exiled into Babylon, and then migrating back to their Holy Land. Finally, the destruction of the temple and the diaspora of Jewish people.
In keeping with these narratives, the New Testament offers us an icon of the Holy Refugee. Pope Pius XIII taught that:
The émigré Holy Family of Nazareth, fleeing into Egypt, is the archetype of every refugee family. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph…[are] for all times and all places, the models and protectors of every migrant, alien, and refugee of whatever kind who, whether compelled by fear of persecution or by want, is forced to leave his native land…and to seek a foreign soil.
Pius XII held up the Holy Family as the special protectors of all migrants because they were themselves refugees. This commitment to the Holy Family is part of the reason Pius XII was so committed to the many displaced people of Europe. The Church, as the pilgrim people of God, is itself a migrant people. Strangers in a strange land, we journey toward our true home.
The Church teaches that natural rights include the right to migrate and that prosperous countries are obliged to welcome refugees as much as possible. This doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be any national borders or any legal process to manage migration. Pope Benedict XVI taught that “every state has the right to regulate migration and to enact policies dictated by the general requirements of the common good.” But that right must be balanced with the “the right of persons to migrate,” which is “numbered among the fundamental human rights, allowing persons to settle wherever they consider best for the realization of their abilities, aspirations and plans.” In a country as vast and prosperous as ours, the goal should be to accept as many newcomers as we can. The right to migrate is a fundamental right of persons, whereas the right to manage migration is a secondary right of nations. And if, for whatever reason, we wish to discourage new migration, we should do so primarily by supporting people in their home countries through extensive foreign aid, so that they won’t feel compelled to emigrate.
Pope Francis has built on and deepened the Church’s teaching on the rights of immigrants and refugees. He sees that God is with migrants. As he put it in a weekly audience in August 2024, “God is there with them, with the migrants, He suffers with them, with the migrants, He weeps and hopes with them, with the migrants.” God has a preferential option for the refugees for “the Lord is with them, not with those who repel them.” If we as a Church and as a nation are to be with God, we must also be with migrants. And we cannot be with them “though more restrictive laws…through the militarization of borders.” In his ordinary teaching authority, Pope Francis teaches us that “[o]ur response to the arrival of migrating persons can be summarized by four words: welcome, protect, promote, and integrate.”
It is a scandal that so many Catholics ignore the clear teaching of the Church and the history of the People of God. It is also a scandal how little we have allowed the Supreme Pontiff to shape and influence our political actions, and how many American Catholics are eager to drive out and demonize the migrants in our midst, who do so much to enrich our country.
The U.S. Bishops can take the lead in living out the Church’s teachings on this issue by standing with the millions of refugees and migrants threatened in the United States today. Cardinal Archbishop McElroy, the new archbishop of Washington D.C., is right that “plans which have been talked about at some levels…[for] indiscriminate massive deportation across the country would be something that would be incompatible with Catholic doctrine.” The bishops should collectively echo McElroy’s warning and call on the faithful to stand with migrants. Catholics can support measures that will improve border security, but they cannot countenance Trump’s routine demonization of migrants from Haiti and elsewhere, or his plan to forcibly remove millions of undocumented immigrants, or his unconstitutional executive order ending birthright citizenship.
The Church’s resistance to Trump’s anti-immigrant policies will primarily involve its preaching office, but other, more practical steps can be taken. First, we should shore up support for Catholic Charities, which has come under attack from the right-wing ideologues for its work with migrants and refugees. That work should be defended and expanded. Second, American Catholics should do whatever we can to provide legal representation for migrants. Catholic law schools should put major resources into migrant defense. Wherever possible, the USCCB should support lawsuits against deportation. The fact that many migrants in this country are Catholics gives the bishops yet another reason to offer them their pastoral protection. Third, we should offer as much institutional support as we can. Catholic institutes, hospitals, schools, and universities should refuse to cooperate with ICE except when it is trying to apprehend a criminal. Finally, Catholic institutions and individuals should offer housing to refugees. If you have a half-empty seminary, convent, or dorm, you should consider offering it to those threatened with deportation—and do not allow ICE in, even if this means risking arrest.
Of course, we shouldn’t rush into confrontation with ICE. As Martin Luther King Jr. taught, one shouldn’t resort to civil disobedience unless one has to. But we should be prepared and, if the time comes for action, we should be prompt. Trump promises to use the military to drive out millions, to shut the door to refugees and even to legal immigrants. Less than a week into his second term, he has already signed several executive orders that cannot be reconciled with the Church’s teaching. He has now authorized ICE to enter schools, hospitals, and churches, blocked the arrival of legal refugees who have been waiting for years, and is launching deportation raids in places of employment. Now is the time for the bishops and the Catholic laity to prepare ourselves for effective resistance. In doing so, our aim should be to welcome our brothers and sisters from beyond our border and stand with the God who stands with refugees.
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