Pope Leo tells US bishops to address Trump’s immigration crackdown
VATICAN CITY — El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz, a leading voice on immigration within the U.S. Catholic Church, met Wednesday with Pope Leo XIV to deliver a packet of letters from immigrant families who say they are living in fear under the Trump administration’s stepped-up immigration enforcement.
During the meeting, Bishop Seitz also presented the pope with a video showing the struggles faced by migrant communities along the U.S.-Mexico border. Afterward, Seitz said that Pope Leo expressed solidarity with the families and pledged to “stand with” both the migrants and the Church leaders working to support them.
“He thanked us for our commitment to immigrant peoples and said he hopes the bishops’ conference will continue to speak to this issue,” said Seitz, who chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration.
Pope Leo, a Chicago-born cleric who also holds Peruvian citizenship, has generally avoided direct commentary on American politics since becoming head of the Catholic Church. Yet he has recently spoken out about moral inconsistencies he sees in public debates surrounding abortion, the death penalty, and immigration.
“Someone who says, ‘I’m against abortion but I am in favor of the death penalty,’ is not really pro-life,” he said earlier this month. “And someone who says, ‘I’m against abortion, but I support the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s truly pro-life.”
Catholic leaders across the country have voiced deep concern about the administration’s intensified immigration actions, saying they have split families, fueled anxiety, and disrupted parishes and schools serving migrant communities. The White House, meanwhile, has defended the policy as essential to national security and public safety.
“We’re not trying to be political,” Seitz said. “But we are called to teach the faith — to remind everyone of the Gospel message about the dignity of every human person, the duty to care for the poor, and the command to welcome the stranger.”
The bishop said many families are “terrorized” and living in constant fear. “It’s a fear that leaves lasting scars on people and their lives,” he added.
The letters and videos Seitz brought to Rome describe how even legal immigrants and U.S. citizens have been caught up in enforcement operations. Families report federal agents entering homes and apartment complexes in pre-dawn raids, sometimes using helicopters or chemical agents, and even detaining local officials.
“They can’t go out. They’re afraid to shop, to go to church — so they just stay home,” wrote Maria, a Guatemalan immigrant from San Francisco who has lived legally in the United States for 25 years but still worries about her relatives.
“The pope needs to talk to President Trump and ask him to think about what he’s doing to immigrants,” her letter read. “The pope should plead with him to change his approach.”
Before his death, Pope Francis had sharply criticized mass deportations, warning that removing people solely because of their immigration status denies their inherent dignity. Pope Leo has carried forward that message, celebrating a special Holy Year Mass for migrants last weekend in which he condemned the “coldness of indifference” and “stigma of discrimination” faced by those fleeing hardship and violence.
When asked by reporters this week about the situation in Chicago, Pope Leo declined to comment directly.
Prior to becoming pope, then-Cardinal Robert Prevost often shared messages on social media critical of harsh immigration measures.
Seitz met with Pope Leo alongside about a dozen members of the Hope Border Institute, an advocacy group formed in partnership with the El Paso Diocese. Despite the pope’s busy schedule, Seitz said the meeting ended on a hopeful note.
“Later in the conversation, he told us, ‘I will stand with you,’” Seitz recalled. “It was a beautiful exchange.”
There is growing speculation in Vatican circles that Pope Leo may visit the United States next year, coinciding with the nation’s 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence — an invitation extended by President Trump.
In 2016, Pope Francis made headlines by celebrating Mass on the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border, with the liturgy broadcast live to a crowd gathered in El Paso. Asked whether Pope Leo might visit the U.S. side of the border if he travels next year, Seitz smiled and said, “Well, you know he’d be welcome.”
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