Since President Trump returned to the White House in January, large-scale deportations have been a central feature of his second-term agenda. But his administration is facing pushback from Catholic leaders, including Pope Leo XIV, who have taken issue with what they see as the United States’ inhumane treatment of immigrants.
Recently, leaders of the Catholic communities at Brown and in Providence expressed support for a Nov. 12 special message issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that articulated concerns about aspects of the federal government’s immigration enforcement efforts.
The message, which received near-unanimous approval from USCCB members at the conference’s Fall Plenary Assembly, raised concerns over “a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement,” the “vilification” of immigrants and the conditions of detention centers across the United States.
In recent months, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has targeted courthouses, schools and workplaces for detainments, creating a sense of fear and uncertainty among many immigrant communities. Reports of overcrowding and poor living conditions at detainment centers and holding cells have also surfaced during Trump’s second term.
“Catholic teaching exhorts nations to recognize the fundamental dignity of all persons, including immigrants,” the USCCB members wrote in the message. “Human dignity and national security are not in conflict. Both are possible if people of good will work together.”
In a statement sent to The Herald, Most Rev. Bruce Lewandowski, bishop of Providence, said that “the Church is accompanying our immigrant sisters and brothers in great and small ways.”
Lewandowski, who attended the Fall Plenary Assembly, also referenced “Jesus’s call to love our neighbor.”
Father Justin Bolger, associate chaplain of the University for the Catholic Community and chaplain of the Brown-RISD Catholic Community, wrote in an email to The Herald that the USCCB’s statement “rightly articulates the Catholic Church’s social teaching as it relates to immigration.”
The statement “aptly critiqued the vilification of immigrants, poor conditions in detention centers, lack of access to pastoral care and separation of families,” Bolger wrote.
Jim Jahnz, secretary for Catholic charities and social ministry at the Diocese of Providence, expressed a similar sentiment in an email to The Herald, noting that one of the Gospel’s teachings is “welcoming the stranger” — a message that has “invigorated our work.”
Several local Catholic leaders also referenced their engagement with programs intended to support immigrant communities.
The BRCC “serves the wider community including immigrants who worship with us and receive their sacraments with us,” Bolger wrote. BRCC students also engage in weekly public services through local charities — which often host programs that serve immigrants, he added.
Bolger also noted that some BRCC students have connected with the Diocese of Providence, which works “directly with the immigrant and refugee population” and has hosted an active immigration and refugee office for about three decades.
Among other offerings, the office handles immigration casework: filing requests for green cards, hosting citizenship classes and otherwise “accompanying people who are in the process of becoming a citizen of the U.S,” Jahnz said.
The diocese also provides material needs for immigrants, such as food, clothing and shelter, Jahnz explained.
But the diocese’s resettlement program has recently been halted after the USCCB decided earlier this year not to renew its cooperative refugee support agreement with the federal government, following the government’s cancellation of many grants and cooperative agreements.
The Diocese of Providence, as an affiliate of the USCCB, ended its refugee resettlement programs in September, Jahnz said. Still, the diocese continues to work with those whom they previously resettled.
“We will not turn our back on those we have been working with,” he added.
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In the statement, Lewandowski said that “comprehensive immigration reform that respects the dignity of the person, keeps families together and provides a path to citizenship is needed now more than ever.”
The White House and ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lev Kotler-Berkowitz
Lev Kotler-Berkowitz is a senior staff writer covering city and state politics. He is from the Boston area and is a junior concentrating in Political Science and Economics. In his free time, Lev can be found playing baseball or running around with his dog.