(LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Robert Barron is calling out fellow Catholic leaders for what he called the “demonization” of the Trump administration in the context of the immigration debate, as more than two dozen bishops issue a new statement denouncing the federal government’s handling of immigration enforcement.
“I don’t think it’s fair to say to a conservative, to a Republican, you’re just being difficult and anti-humanitarian,” Barron told Fox News in an interview published May 24. “At times, the Catholic left is great for calling for dialogue and bridge-building — until it comes to conservatives.”
“No, no, let’s build bridges of conversation. That’s a role the Church can play,” he continued. “What I don’t want from the Church is a kind of demonization of the Trump administration […] if there are points of disagreement, whether it’s immigration or it’s the war or whatever, let’s talk about it, let’s talk.”
Four days earlier, a group of 14 bishops led by Archbishop of Detroit Edward Weisenburger signed a letter to members of Congress expressing “grave concern” over a $72 billion budget reconciliation package to fund the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including immigration enforcement.
“As pastors, we remain troubled by how immigrants, the vast majority of whom have committed no crimes and have built equities in the country, have become targets for enforcement, with their God-given human dignity and human rights being violated on a daily basis,” the letter declared. It asked lawmakers to incorporate into the final bill due process guarantees, family unity, eliminating “mandatory detention” and detention for “vulnerable groups,” protection of “sensitive locations,” and a restored asylum process.
As a contrast to such arguments, Barron cited recent remarks by Trump administration border czar Tom Homan, who is himself Catholic. Homan, Barron said, has recounted seeing “the terrible destruction caused by an open border. And he was talking about, especially human trafficking, the human trafficking of children, the disappearance of children we’ve lost track of completely in this process,” Barron recalled. “He was saying, we can’t simply fall for the simplistic view that an open border is humanitarian, that an open border is kind to the stranger … an open border also produces enormous moral problems.”
“It’s not just, well, the bad guy, Republicans, who want to enforce immigration laws. It’s Republicans for very good moral reasons who want to enforce immigration law,” the bishop argued.
The debate comes amid ongoing controversy over how to handle illegal immigration. President Donald Trump was returned to office in 2024 in large part thanks to widespread anger at his predecessor Joe Biden’s lax border policies. Trump returned to office and set U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to work on an aggressive “mass deportation” campaign to collect and remove illegals currently in the country. But ICE’s tactic, particularly in the left-wing city of Minneapolis, garnered widespread scrutiny especially after two shooting deaths of protesters in altercations with agents. In response, Trump tapped Homan to take over the Minneapolis operation, replacing Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Greg Bovino.
But left-wing “religious” opposition to immigration enforcement long predates, and runs far deeper than, simple qualms about specific enforcement actions. As LifeSiteNews covered at the time, as of February 2025 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities received $449 million in federal funds for helping resettle unaccompanied migrant children.
This article was originally published by LifeSiteNews.
