Earlier this week, Anna Gallagher, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. (CLINIC) crooned: “As we enter the Advent season, we remember that the Holy Family themselves were migrants seeking safety.” It is a recurring motif to validate the resistance of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to curtailment of illegal immigration.
In November, the USCCB prepared for Advent by declaring war on the Trump administration with a “Special Pastoral Message on Immigration.” The insurrectionist tenor of this rare “special message” places the globalist conceits — and monetary interests — of the hierarchy ahead of the just laws of their own country.
Larded with scriptural citations isolated from historical context, the declaration erases distinctions between lawful immigration and waves of illicit, unvetted migrants. The term illegal does not appear. This is a calculated omission for emotional effect. Inaccurate wording disguises the USCCB’s self-interested opposition to the deportation of illegal immigrants by suggesting that immigration itself is under siege. The fear-mongering is deliberate.
Our bishops censure “the indiscriminate deportation of people.” But there is nothing indiscriminate about the process. The only people subject to detention by ICE are illegal aliens who have broken our immigration laws by choice.
Moreover, in May 2025, the Department of Homeland Security established generous protocols for travel assistance to aid self-deportation: a one-way ticket to a chosen destination, a $1,000 stipend, plus the opportunity to apply legally. Still, the USCCB hyperventilates about “vilification of immigrants,” “conditions in detention centers,” and “lack of access to pastoral care.”
“We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement. . . . Catholic teaching exhorts nations to recognize the fundamental dignity of all persons, including Immigrants,” the message states.
The bishops confer the endearment “our people” on illegal aliens but withhold it from taxpayers who subsidize mass migration. They offer lip service to secure borders and lawful immigration, but their hearts are elsewhere.
Where was concern for “dignity of all persons” and “access to pastoral care” during the Covid lockdown? Walmart stayed open while dioceses closed churches and restricted sacraments and funerals. There was no talk of “accompaniment” to the terminally ill in nursing homes. They died alone, deprived of any human touch. And often without the solace of last rites.
While liquor stores were deemed essential but churches not, the USCCB raised no challenge. But now, emboldened by Pope Leo’s distaste for immigration enforcement, it fights for open borders. Leo seconded the hostilities by denouncing U.S. policy toward illegal migrants as “extremely disrespectful.”
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