America’s Bishops Warn Donald Trump Over Mass Deportation

American Catholic bishops have said they would “raise our voice loudly” if President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts undermine human dignity and basic rights.
During the fall assembly of The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on Tuesday, they acknowledged concerns over Trump’s proposal, known as “Operation Aurora,” which could seek to deport between 11 and 14 million undocumented immigrants.
USCCB President Archbishop Timothy Broglio stressed that while the bishops do not condone illegal immigration, they insist on a humane approach, adding that those who cross the border “represent the face of Christ.”
“I think as we move forward, we hope that there will be an earnest effort to repair the immigration law and also there will be a renewed respect for the dignity of the human person,” Broglio said.
El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz of the USCCB migration committee said the bishops would speak out if the proposed deportations compromise human rights or threaten the Church’s mission to aid marginalized communities.
“The way in which a deportation program is executed will be a test for our nation,” Seitz said. “We know that very often the reality is different from the rhetoric. We’ll watch and respond as needed.”
Seitz said the USCCB recognizes that some immigrants have not entered the country legally but stressed that the U.S. government should distinguish between those who have committed additional crimes from those who, “for the benefit of our country, should be able to remain.”
Newsweek has contacted Trump’s office via email for comment.
Trump made cracking down on illegal immigration one of the central policies of his successful presidential campaign, repeatedly promising to initiate the “largest deportation in the history of our country.”
He made similar promises when he ran for the presidency in 2016, but during his first administration, deportations never topped 350,000. For comparison, then-President Barack Obama carried out 432,000 deportations in 2013, the highest annual total since records began.
Trump has also said he will use the National Guard to round up migrants and invoke the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law that allows the president to deport any noncitizen from a country the U.S. is at war with.
Earlier this week, Trump announced that Tom Homan, his former acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, would be his “border czar” in charge of the mass deportations.
In an interview on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures, Homan defended Trump’s plan for mass deportations and said that ICE would move to implement them in a “humane manner.”
“It’s going to be a well-targeted, planned operation conducted by the men of ICE. The men and women of ICE do this daily. They’re good at it,” he told host Maria Bartiromo.
In a CBS interview last month, he said that family separation could be avoided because “families could be deported together.”