White House border advisor Tom Homan lambasted the Catholic Church on Friday over its stance against the Trump administration’s mass deportations.
“The Catholic Church is wrong, I’m sorry,” Homan told reporters outside the White House. “I’m saying it not only as the border czar, I’m saying it as a Catholic.”
Homan described himself as a “lifelong Catholic” and said U.S. Catholic bishops were sending the wrong message when they issued a rare statement supporting immigrants and opposing the ”indiscriminate mass deportations of people.”
“According to them, the message we should send to the world is if you cross the border illegally, which is a crime, don’t worry about it,” he said. “If you get an order removal by a federal judge after due process, don’t worry about it because there shouldn’t be mass deportations.”
Typically, illegal entry into the United States is a civil offense. But subsequent violations can be a felony, potentially resulting in fines or prison time.
Homan claimed immigrants are using up their life savings to pay criminal organizations to help them cross into the country illegally, which he said has led to thousands of deaths. He said illegal immigration also has contributed to fentanyl overdoses in the U.S.
“Secure borders save lives,” Homan said. “I wish the Catholic Church could understand that.”
Homan, who describes himself as a border czar, said the bishops should focus their time on “fixing the Catholic Church.”
“We have a right to secure our borders,” he said.
The criticism came two days after the U.S. Catholic bishops issued a special statement during this week’s annual United States Conference of Catholic Bishops gathering in Baltimore. It was the first time since 2013 that the bishops collectively voiced their concerns over an issue. The last time they did so was in response to the federal government’s contraceptive mandate.
“We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement,” the statement read. “We are concerned by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care.”
The bishops called for immigration reform and said they were troubled by threats against the “sanctity of houses of worship and special nature of hospitals and schools.”
“We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement,” the statement read.
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