When a religious sister, walking to Mass in full habit gets detained by ICE; why?

 

Prayer key to sister’s release from ICE detention, but foreign-born religious now on edge

written by Gina Christian 

People from McAllen, Texas, are seen walking across a border bridge between United States and Mexico as they are deported into Mexico Oct. 22, 2018, by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (OSV News photo/Carlos Barria, Reuters)

(OSV News) — A woman religious in McAllen, Texas, told OSV News the “power of prayer” was key to the release of a religious sister detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as she walked to Sunday Mass — but foreign-born religious in the area are now on their guard after the incident.

Sister Leticia Ugboaja, a member of the Nigerian-based Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy, was apprehended and held by ICE agents for several hours June 28. 

Known as “Sister Letty,” she had been walking from her residence to Our Lady of Sorrows Church in McAllen, where she serves as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion. 

According to the Diocese of Brownsville, Sister Leticia also works as a registered nurse at a McAllen-based medical center that is part of South Texas Health System. She had previously spent 10 years as a certified nursing assistant at DHR Health in Edinburg, Texas.

‘We were all praying’

Upon news of the sister’s detention, “we were all praying,” Sister Rose Patrice Kuhn told OSV News. The Immaculate Heart of Mary sister provides pastoral accompaniment to migrants in the McAllen-Reynosa, Mexico, border area.

Sister Rose said she and her community members throughout the U.S. rallied their prayers for Sister Leticia’s release, which saw the intervention of lawmakers, including Republican Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz, of Texas’ 15th Congressional District, who announced she spoke directly with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin about the matter.

Those prayers included pleas to “touch the hearts” of all those involved in Sister Leticia’s detention, said Sister Rose, who spoke with the sister at some length following her release.

The Diocese of Brownsville advised OSV News that Sister Leticia was not available for an interview on advice of her legal counsel, and Sister Rose, citing the same reason, also declined to provide specific details regarding Sister Leticia’s hours in immigration detention.

Waited outside sister’s home for her release

However, Sister Rose said that “many” Our Lady of Sorrows parishioners were “crying and praying” outside Sister Leticia’s home as they waited for her release.

“She said to me, ‘I never knew I was so loved,'” Sister Rose recalled, her voice filled with emotion.

Sister Rose explained that she and fellow religious from various orders serving in the Rio Grande Valley are “connected to one another” and joined as one amid Sister Letitia’s detention.

While they rejoiced to see their fellow religious released, “just imagine how it affects the other sisters,” said Sister Rose. “There are many here who are not from the United States originally. There are a good number who are here on different kinds of visas, and who have been here for years, working with the parishes and with migrants and immigrants. Just imagine the extra fear that’s being put into them.”

Sister Rose said, “Even though they have (immigration) documents, they’re thinking, ‘Are they (immigration officials) going to look up my name?'”

She pointed to the Trump administration’s mass deportation policy — the impact of which she sees almost daily as she attends immigration court hearings.

Recently, said Sister Rose, “there were so many” immigration hearing appointments that court officials “would not allow anybody else in, because there was no room. They are putting so many of the people in the same (immigration) situation together so they can deport more people, faster.”

And following Sister Leticia’s detention, the border area’s foreign-born religious are now “cautious,” said Sister Rose. “I’ve heard from a couple of sisters, and it’s really affecting them.”

Cardinals Cupich and Tobin spend Ash Wednesday with families of those detained by ICE or deported

 

'God does not need papers': Cardinals spend Ash Wednesday with ICE detainees, their families

by Camillo Barone

Chicago Cardinal Blase J. Cupich places ashes on the forehead of an attendee at the Ash Wednesday Mass near Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Feb. 18, 2026, in Melrose Park, a Chicago suburb. (Courtesy of Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership/Gordon Mayer)

February 18, 2026

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Standing outdoors on a cold Ash Wednesday evening, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago framed Lent as a public reckoning with fear, invisibility and faith lived under pressure in the immigrant community. 

As ashes were prepared and families gathered near Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Melrose Park, Cupich's homily drew a straight line between the ancient ritual of dust and the modern reality of detention, deportation and family separation.

"God does not need papers to know who or where you are," he said. "The world may look at your legal status, but God looks at your heart."

The outdoor Mass and community procession marked the start of Lent for thousands of Catholics organized by the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership, or CSPL, and the Scalabrinian Missionaries. It came days after a federal judge ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to allow clergy access to the Broadview ICE detention facility for Ash Wednesday services.

More than 3,000 people — including relatives of those detained or deported — attended the Mass and walked the streets of Melrose Park in a peaceful procession. Families affected by immigration enforcement were among the first to receive ashes from Cupich, in a highly symbolic reversal of the marking and tracking many say defines their daily lives.

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, speaks at St. Lucy's Church in Newark Jan. 13, 2025, during an interfaith gathering of religious leaders committed to supporting immigrants facing the threat of mass deportation by the Trump administration. (OSV News/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, as well, began Ash Wednesday by celebrating Masses inside Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, where he met with women detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, emphasizing the church's responsibility to uphold human dignity in places of confinement. Tobin said starting the day with detainees was his priority before later celebrating Mass at St. Patrick's Pro-Cathedral.

Accompanied by auxiliary bishops from the Archdiocese of Newark, Tobin told Religion News Service that the Masses inside the facility were both sorrowful and marked by courage.

Cupich, in his homily, said: "This too is a day for those who are made to feel like dust, dust that can be swept away or treated as if they do not belong. It is a day for those who work with the dust of the earth in construction, in cleaning, in harvesting the crops of the fields, all to support their families. Yet remember from the beginning it is dust that God uses to create humanity."

Cupich's Mass was not a procession to Broadview, as previous public witness events have been, but its location and timing were inseparable from the legal and moral struggle over access to the detention center. On Feb. 12, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman issued a preliminary injunction ordering DHS to permit clergy to minister to detainees on Ash Wednesday, writing: "The court finds that the government has substantially burdened plaintiffs' exercise of religion."

The ruling followed a lawsuit filed in November by the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership challenging DHS restrictions on prayer and pastoral access.

The group argued that its own religious freedom rights were violated under the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. The court noted that DHS failed to demonstrate a compelling government interest or that its policies were the least restrictive means available.

Late Wednesday morning, DHS notified the group that it would comply with Gettleman's judicial injunction, requiring federal officials to permit a small delegation of clergy and women religious access to the Broadview ICE facility on Ash Wednesday.

Fr. Leandro Fossá, pastor at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish where Cupich celebrated Mass, was one of the religious in the delegation that entered the ICE detention center at 3 p.m. CST.

"The importance of the Mass with the people, and then the possibility of going inside the ICE detention, is because we want to guarantee the freedom of religion of this country and the possibility for every person to receive spiritual assistance from their religion," Fossá told NCR.

The choice of the parish in Melrose Park was not casual. The west suburban parish is in a neighborhood with a high concentration of families affected by deportation. In September 2025, an undocumented Mexican immigrant father of two, Silverio Villegas González, was fatally shot by ICE agents, an event that shook the parish and prompted novenas, memorial Masses and sustained organizing.

"We built a life together. He worked; he took care of us. He was a good person," Villegas' girlfriend said in an October NCR interview. She's been assisted since then by the parish community.

"We Catholics are moved by hope, despite the difficulties, despite the fear of many who don't go to work without measuring the consequences, many children who go to school and have anxiety because they don't know if — when they go back from school — their parents are going to be home," said Fossá.

Over the past year, the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership has organized a series of highly visible religious activities: a people's Mass outside the Great Lakes Naval Station, a Eucharistic procession at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish to grieve Villegas and multiple processions and Masses outside the Broadview facility calling for pastoral care and Communion inside.

During that same period, according to the coalition's lawsuit, ICE has denied access to advocates and clergy, while reports of deteriorating and inhumane conditions inside the facility have increased. Illinois elected officials were also denied access, according to media reports.

As ashes were imposed outside the Melrose Park parish, Cupich addressed the fear many families carry. "Today many of you live in fear of being marked and tracked, careful about names, identities, and lists," he said. "But today, you step forward freely to receive this mark, the sign of the cross."

He described the cross traced in ash as "more permanent than any government identity or record," telling worshippers, "It is a declaration that no matter what laws change, no matter what politicians say, and no matter what uncertainties you face, you are children of God."

For Fossá, that message has had a tangible effect on parishioners since the start of 2026. "We see hope, and many people say, 'Father, we know that we don't stand alone, and we know that those who do injustice will have to answer to God.' "

"We also see people that are not afraid. They know of the possible consequences, but they are not afraid because they know that they are not alone," he said.

Catholic leaders call for peace, prayer, respect as Minneapolis struggles

 

Catholic leaders call for peace, prayer after second person killed in Minneapolis by federal agents

written by OSV News 

People gather at a makeshift memorial in Minneapolis Jan. 25, 2026, at the site where a man was fatally shot by federal agents trying to detain him Jan. 24. Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis, along with other Church leaders, have called for peace amid growing tensions. (OSV News photo/Tim Evans, Reuters)

(OSV News) — Catholic leaders are calling for peace the day after a second person was killed by federal agents this month in Minneapolis. The deadly shooting of Alex Pretti, 37, comes amid increased federal immigration enforcement actions in the Twin Cities metro area; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has referred to this activity involving the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as “Operation Metro Surge.”

The shooting also comes 17 days after a shooting in Minneapolis involving an ICE agent — identified by media reports as Jonathan Ross — left 37-year-old Renee Good, of Minneapolis, dead.

USCCB president, echoing pope, calls for peace and respect for all

In a statement released Jan. 25, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, echoed the words of Pope Leo at the Angelus this morning, calling for peace and respect for all peoples.

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, seen in a file photo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement Jan. 25 urging calm, restraint and respect for human life in Minneapolis after a second person was killed by federal agents this month in the city. (OSV News photo/Bob Roller)

“Today, Pope Leo XIV reminds us that ‘the Gospel must be proclaimed and lived in every setting, serving as a leaven of fraternity and peace among all individuals, cultures, religions and peoples,'” Archbishop Coakley said. “It is with this in mind that I prayerfully urge calm, restraint, and respect for human life in Minneapolis, and all those places where peace is threatened. Public authorities especially have a responsibility to safeguard the well-being of people in service to the common good. 

“As a nation we must come together in dialogue, turning away from dehumanizing rhetoric and acts which threaten human life. In this spirit, in unity with Pope Leo, it is important to proclaim, ‘Peace is built on respect for people!'”

Pope Leo, during his Angelus address Jan. 25, said, “…let us pray for peace: in Ukraine, in the Middle East, and in every region where, unfortunately, there is fighting going on for interests that are not those of the people. Peace is built on respect for peoples!

Minneapolis’ archbishop calls for prayer

Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis also released a statement Jan. 25 calling for prayer and a restoration of peace. 

Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis, pictured June 7, 2025, issued a statement Jan. 25, 2026, calling for prayer and a restoration of peace after a second person was killed by federal agents this month in Minneapolis. (OSV News photo/Dave Hrbacek, The Catholic Spirit)

“Following Saturday’s tragic shooting in Minneapolis, I ask all people of good will to join me today in prayer for Alex Jeffrey Pretti, for his parents, and for his loved ones,” said Archbishop Hebda. “The loss of another life amidst the tensions that have gripped Minnesota should prompt all of us to ask what we can do to restore the Lord’s peace. 

“While we rightly thirst for God’s justice and hunger for his peace, this will not be achieved until we are able to rid our hearts of the hatreds and prejudices that prevent us from seeing each other as brothers and sisters created in the image and likeness of God,” he said. “That is as true for our undocumented neighbors as it is for our elected officials and for the men and women who have the unenviable responsibility of enforcing our laws. They all need our humble prayers.”

Eucharistic adoration, Masses in Minneapolis

The Cathedral of St. Paul will be open Jan. 25 with extended Eucharistic Adoration “for those seeking a quiet place for prayer and reflection,” he said. 

Archbishop Hebda will also celebrate a Votive Mass for the Preservation of Peace at 5 p.m., he announced. A Mass will be offered for Alex Pretti, his family, and for the Twin Cities community at the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis, at 5:30 p.m.

“Wherever you find yourself this afternoon, I hope you will take a few moments to join us in prayer,” Archbishop Hebda said.

Catholic and other faith leaders have previously called for prayers and peace during the enforcement effort. A multifaith prayer service Jan. 23 at Temple Israel in Minneapolis included Auxiliary Bishop Kevin Kenney.

Meanwhile, in Columbus Ohio, you are dispensed from Mass attendance if you fear immigration enforcement

 

Bishop Earl Fernandes celebrates the Holy Mass 

Church

• mass
• migrants and refugees

Bishop grants dispensation from Mass for faithful fearing immigration detention

The Bishop of the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, USA, grants a dispensation to members of the faithful "who reasonably fear being detained" due to increased immigration enforcement activities in the area.

Fr. Paweł Rytel-Andrianik

In response to the recent increase in immigration enforcement in the Diocese of Columbus, causing a rise in fear and feelings of anxiety among immigrant communities, Bishop Earl Fernandes has decided to “dispense from the obligation to attend Holy Mass, all those persons who reasonably fear being detained” effective until January 11, 2026. “Despite their fears, many came to Mass,” he said.

An increase in immigration enforcement at Christmastime

“Recent days have seen an increase in immigration enforcement in the Diocese of Columbus, causing a rise in fear and feelings of anxiety among our immigrant communities,” writes Bishop of Columbus Earl Fernandes in his decree. He shares that he has consulted closely with many of the pastors whose parishioners are more acutely affected by this recent surge in activity of immigration enforcement. 

In his decree, he reiterates that the Christian faithful have an obligation, which is a disciplinary law of the Church, to participate in Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation, including the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord. At the same time, he acknowledges that “the fear associated with this recent activity of immigration enforcement may deter some of the Christian faithful from fulling their obligation to assist at Mass, which would be detrimental to their spiritual welfare. The diocesan bishop may dispense the faithful from disciplinary laws, both universal and particular, when it contributes to their spiritual welfare (cf. canon 87 §1).” 

Dispensation from Mass for people fearing immigration detention

In this situation, Bishop Fernandes writes: “having considered the law and the facts, I hereby dispense from the obligation to attend Holy Mass, all those persons who reasonably fear being detained, even those with proper legal documentation, who fear separation from their families, experience intimidation because of their status or ethnic background, or other actions of immigration enforcement. This dispensation will last through the Christmas Season, which ends with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on January 11, 2026.” 

He strongly encourages the Christian faithful who make use of this dispensation to engage “in spiritual practices during this time, including joining live-streamed Masses, making spiritual communion, praying the family rosary, meditating on the Nativity scene, and other activities of popular piety.” He also encourages pastors and all the priests serving the Diocese of Columbus to be generous in attending to the pastoral care of the faithful who cannot participate in Mass and who are in need of pastoral and sacramental care, including the sacraments of penance, anointing of the sick, or Holy Communion. 

“I didn’t really want to do this, but the people were so anxious”

Speaking with Vatican News, Bishop Fernandes remarked, “I didn’t really want to do this, but the situation had become so dire, and the people were so anxious that I felt I needed to, especially after hearing from the priests at our Spanish-speaking parishes. I offered Mass in Spanish at one parish, followed by a Posada, but the crowd was down and the faithful felt that it was safe to do the procession and singing only inside the building."

He added that the faithful from the immigrant communities were very grateful. They experienced the closeness of the Church and expressed that they felt heard by us (the bishop and priests). Many of the other faithful expressed solidarity with the immigrant communities and were happy we finally said something. “Until now, we have tried to ‘minister in the shadows’, to not bring about more provocative and aggressive action,” he said.

“I recognize that countries have a right to security”

“Of course, the polarization that afflicts the country has infected the Church, so that there are some who use political talking points to express their outrage and suggest that we are encouraging flaunting of the law. We are most certainly not. What we are asking for is that churches and schools not be targeted, especially at Christmastime, and that families not be separated. I recognize that countries have a right to security and to control their borders; nevertheless, I made an appeal to conscience, in the spirit of the Jubilee, to allow families to share the peace of Christmas together,” says Bishop Fernandes. He added that many of those who criticized the decision were not aware of what we were seeing on the ground and who many people, because of race or ethnicity, were being profiled.

“I do not view law enforcement as bad or evil in any way; rather, I commend them for rooting out those who are truly violent, who traffic drugs or even people. We all want to feel safe and secure, but this safety and security, for some, especially for those who are away from home, is often found in our churches and our school communities,” underlines Bishop Fernandes.

Despite fears, many came to Mass 

He appealed to the faithful to be generous at Christmastime, because the people who are too afraid to go to church are also afraid to go to work, which means that there will be a drop in income and many will go without basic necessities, including food.

He also called many of the pastors on Christmas Day itself and was happy to learn that many of the faithful, despite their fears, came to Mass to worship the newborn King. “The faith of the people inspires me,” he says.

“It’s not easy to be the bishop, but we must not fail to take decisions or lead. We may not be popular all the time, but we must exercise our prophetic voice and proclaim the Word of Life,” said Bishop Fernandes, speaking with Vatican News.

Portland Archbishop says enough is enough; ICE crackdowns leads to loss of human dignity

 

Portland archbishop on ICE: Human dignity comes from God, not government

written by Gina Christian 

(OSV News) — Human dignity comes “not from government, but from our loving God,” Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland, Oregon, declared in a Nov. 8 statement regarding recent immigration enforcement activity in that state.

“It does not matter whether some of our brothers and sisters have proper documentation or not,” said Archbishop Sample. “They are our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.”

The archbishop’s statement — posted in both English and Spanish on the archdiocesan website and the archbishop’s social media platforms, along with a video version of the message — follows months of immigration raids and arrests under President Donald Trump ‘s crackdown on immigrants lacking permanent legal status in the U.S., a group known to be majority Catholic Christians.

“My heart is heavy because of the continued fear and anxiety that runs through the community of our Hispanic brothers and sisters in this archdiocese,” said Archbishop Sample. “This is due to the increased ICE activity within our communities, even now in the vicinity of some of our parishes.”

Oregon has become one of several flashpoints for tensions over the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies, with regular protests taking place outside the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement field office in Portland.

 “I want to assure our Hispanic brothers and sisters that the shepherds of the church in the United States are working diligently to advocate for their humane and respectful treatment. We are doing all that we can to alleviate this suffering,” said Archbishop Sample, who noted he is currently attending the annual U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops‘fall plenary meeting in Baltimore.

Both Portland, Oregon’s largest city, and the state government have codified their sanctuary status, prohibiting their respective law enforcement personnel from assisting any federal agency with immigration enforcement.

In September, Trump federalized 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to protect the building. The city of Portland and the state of Oregon sued, with U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut — a Trump appointee — temporarily blocking the deployment of the troops in an October order made permanent Nov. 7.

More than 200 individuals residing in Oregon have been detained by ICE officers since Trump took office, said Reyna Lopez, executive director of the farmworker advocacy organization PCUN (Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste), during an Oct. 31 press conference in Portland.

Several North Portland public schools have implemented “secure the perimeter” protocols — locking all exterior doors while continuing learning activities — in response to reported ICE activity. On Nov. 6, some 100 community members surrounded César Chávez School an hour ahead of dismissal to watch out for ICE officers during student pickup.

Catholic teaching on immigration, deportation

Catholic social teaching on immigration balances three interrelated principles — the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain their lives and those of their families, the right of a country to regulate its borders and control immigration, and a nation’s duty to regulate its borders with justice and mercy.

The Catholic Church’s teaching also makes clear human laws regulating migration are also subject to divine justice, but it has not yet issued teaching exploring the morality of deportation beyond the magisterium of St. John Paul II. 

The late pontiff’s 1993 encyclical “Veritatis Splendor” (“Splendor of Truth”) and 1995 encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” (“The Gospel of Life”) — both quote the Second Vatican Council’s teaching in “Gaudium et Spes,” the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, naming “deportation” among various specific acts “offensive to human dignity” that “are a disgrace, and so long as they infect human civilization they contaminate those who inflict them more than those who suffer injustice, and they are a negation of the honor due to the Creator.”

He underscored their moral severity in “Veritatis Splendor” by calling them examples of “intrinsic evil,” explaining that, no matter the motives, these acts are “not capable of being ordered to God and to the good of the person.”

Across the U.S., Christians account for approximately 80% of all of those at risk of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort, with the single largest group of affected Christians being Catholics, according to a joint Catholic-Evangelical report published by World Relief. 

Nationwide: 1 in 6 Catholics potentially directly affected by ICE activity

The report found one in six Catholics (18%) are either vulnerable to deportation or live with someone who is. 

According to a Pew Research Center data analysis from March 2025, more than four out of 10 Catholics in the U.S. are immigrants (29%) or the children of immigrants (14%). But eight out of 10 Hispanic Catholics are either born outside the U.S. (58%) or are the children of an immigrant (22%), while 92% of Asian Catholics are either immigrants (78%) or are the children of an immigrant (14%). Far fewer white Catholics — just 15% — share this immigrant experience: only 6% were born outside the U.S., with another 9% born in the U.S. to at least one immigrant parent. 

“As your archbishop and spiritual father, I wish I could remove this cross from you,” Archbishop Sample told the Hispanic Catholic faithful in his message.

The archbishop assured them he was “deeply concerned over what you are experiencing right now, along with all of your local parish priests. I know this is a great burden for them as well, because they feel helpless to take this cross from you. … Please know that I and your pastors stand with you in solidarity during this difficult time.”

Archbishop Sample also addressed priests “who are caring for people during these difficult times,” promising his “support and prayers.”

“We are in this together to uphold the dignity of every human person, every child of God,” said Archbishop Sample, urging all to “lean on the love that Jesus has for each one of us.

“He alone is our hope, and in him alone do we trust. He is with you always and will never abandon you,” said the archbishop. “Place yourselves in his hands.”

Portland archbishop’s message concludes with ‘Viva Cristo Rey’

Archbishop Sample concluded his message with “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” (“Long live Jesus Christ!”) — the battle cry of the Cristeros, who defied the anti-Catholic, secular government of Mexico during the Cristero War of 1926-1929. The Cristeros’ defiant cry was made famous in particular by Blessed Miguel Pro. The Mexican martyr and Jesuit priest extended his arms in the form of a cross and shouted those words before he was executed by firing squad in 1927. 

In 2000, St. John Paul II canonized 25 martyrs from the Cristero War. In 2016, Pope Francis canonized the most recent Cristero martyr, St. José Sánchez del Río, a teenager remembered for repeating “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” many times before his own public martyrdom in 1928. 

Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.

There is a "silent majority" of American Catholics who support current immigration efforts

 

A ‘silent majority’ of U.S. Catholics support Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts

Former U.S. Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli. | Credit: DHSgov, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

By Madalaine Elhabbal

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 29, 2025 / 14:59 pm

Catholics who do not gather for anti-enforcement rallies organized by high-ranking Catholic prelates are a “silent majority,” according to conservative Catholic immigration experts. 

As the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts continue to intensify, Catholics across the country have committed to observe days of prayer and public witness for migrants through efforts such as the One Church One Family initiative spearheaded by the western Jesuits. However, according to some conservative Catholic immigration experts, the number of Catholics who are opting out of such vigils are “a silent majority.”

The initiative calls on dioceses, parishes, schools, religious communities, and other Catholic institutions to host and promote “public actions that lift up the dignity of migrants,” such as “a vigil in front of a detention center, a prayer service at a place where migrants were publicly detained, or a rosary accompanying people who are going to immigration court hearings.” 

“I think that there are a large number of American Catholics who are supportive of what the president is doing with respect to immigration,” Center for Immigration Studies Resident Fellow in Law and Policy Andrew Arthur told CNA. “I think he received a majority of Catholic votes in the last election, depending on which poll you look at.”

Immigration enforcement, he pointed out, acted as a major touchstone of President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. That Trump did not lean more heavily on this key issue in the 2020 campaign was also considered “one of the key failings” of his second White House attempt. 

While Catholics who oppose the Trump administration’s enforcement efforts have been forthright in their advocacy for migrants, organizing vigils, Eucharistic processions, and protests, Arthur observed that the demographic of Catholics who support the administration are “not a monolith” and do not organize demonstrations in the same way. 

“I don’t really know that there’s a huge Catholic enforcement group that I could point to,” he said in terms of open advocacy for enforcement. “But that’s more or less to be expected. In my mind, it’s the silent majority in this country.”

“One of the things that we see is that the Catholic Church, anecdotally, that we see that the Catholic Church, that especially younger Catholics are more conservative, and therefore, more in line with law enforcement, generally, and immigration enforcement, in particular,” he continued. “But there’s no reason to form a group to support what the administration is actually doing.” 

Regarding the concerns posed by many groups, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Arthur insisted that there is “nothing that Donald Trump or ICE or [border czar] Tom Homan, another good Catholic, are doing that is contrary to the laws that Congress has written.” Despite the widespread critical narrative, Arthur denied there being anything particularly exceptional or specific to the Trump administration’s approach to enforcement. 

“I have been involved in immigration and enforcement for 33 years and served under four different presidents, beginning with George H.W. Bush,” he said. “There’s nothing about immigration enforcement today [that’s different from enforcement] under H.W., Clinton, George W. Bush, or Barack Obama.”

‘This is what the law requires’

“This is what the law requires. This is what the agents are doing,” he continued, adding: “I think really the only exceptional part is the response that they’re receiving for it.”

Addressing concerns surrounding enforcement from a Catholic perspective, former U.S. Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli told CNA: “I am aware of the two basic points contained in the paragraph in the Catholic catechism on immigration: 1) Wealthier nations should be generous with their immigration policies; and 2) Migrants should respect the laws and customs of the nation to which they are emigrating.”

“I believe America is historically the most generous nation on Earth when it comes to inviting in people from all over the world, so we meet the first Catholic expectation,” he continued, adding: “However, an illegal alien by definition does not meet the second expectation found in the catechism, and thus the need on the part of America to enforce the law at a large scale.”   

Cuccinelli emphasized the need for America’s immigration system to work for Americans first as well as the economic pitfalls for poor working-class Americans of allowing large-scale “low skill” illegal immigration.

In the end, Cuccinelli, who also previously served as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told CNA he hopes the Trump administration’s efforts to demonstrate its commitment to the rule of law will prompt a return to “gradually move back to a legal immigration regime soon.” 

The director of Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Center for Criminal Justice, Law, and Ethics, Charles Nemeth, also weighed in on the subject from a Catholic perspective, telling CNA: “If this be about justice, it is better to adopt the Aristotelian-Thomistic view that justice is about what is ‘due’ — nothing more and nothing less. Illegals commence their journey already in a faulted state — for they have jumped the line and disregarded our laws and traditions.”

In order for a society to be just, he said, it must look to the common good of the nation-state first rather than “the individualized needs or demands of those lacking a legal right to assimilate without the adherence to the rules and regulations that border entry calls for.”

Nemeth stated that the Biden administration’s “open-door policy” subverted the rights of U.S. citizens by permitting mass migration, which he said resulted in “a dramatic rise in crime and social unrest and made a comedy of the rule of law.” He further cited undocumented migrants’ access to benefits such as health care, food stamps, and education “while our own citizens are being crushed by the costs of the same services.”

“It is one thing to display compassion,” referencing Catholics who protest the administration’s enforcement efforts, “but quite another to undermine the social fabric of a society that allows special rules for special categories of inhabitants.