More Resistance by Faith Leaders against the Trump Administration’s Anti-Migrant Policies

Catholic clergy won a court case last month granting them access to minister to the spiritual needs of Catholic refugees, including distributing Communion to them. The Trump Administration had previously denied their access to migrants for ministry. Catholic Bishops have been complaining about reduced church attendance because of the Trump Administration’s targeting and harassing of Catholic Parishes. In addition to the one I posted about last year, more Catholic Bishops, including one each in California and Louisiana, the Bishops of all three Dioceses in Tennessee, and even a conservative Bishop in Ohio, are excusing immigrants from the Sunday obligation to attend Mass if they have a reasonable fear of being targeted by the Trump Administration’s anti-migrant policies. Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pontiff, declined an invitation from the United States to celebrate the 150th anniversary of American independence and instead is sending a thinly veiled message by announcing instead a visit at the time to Lampedusa, the Italian island south of Sicily that is a hotspot for migrants. Meanwhile, Vice President J.D. Vance admitted that his calumny against the American Bishops that they were pro-migrant out of financial gain was false. Trumpist and other nativists and xenophobes have been accusing the Catholic Church of “human trafficking” for aiding migrants, even though ministering to strangers, especially refugees, is one of its religious duties. Last month, Jews protested the Trump Administration’s anti-migrant policies. More than 150 rabbis and cantors protested outside the Washington, D.C. headquarters of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Hundreds of Evangelical Protestant Christian scholars and pastors signed a letter last month condemning the Trump Administration’s treatment of migrants. As I have posted, the Trump Administration has targeted migrants unjustly, including those who are present legally, violated due process and court orders, used excessive force against migrants and peaceful protestors, broken up families, violated the liberty of refugees who credibly fear persecution, and even violated the freedoms and rights of American citizens. Opposition parties, States, immigrant and human rights organizations, lawyers, business organizations and owners, and faith leaders have been among those opposing the anti-migrant policy of the Trump Administration.