Catholic Bishops’ President Criticizes Trump’s Deportation Policy as Spreading Fear

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, expressed deep concern on Sunday over the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts, saying they are creating widespread fear across immigrant communities in the United States.

“It’s instilling fear in a rather widespread manner. So I think that’s something that concerns us all, that people have a right to live in security and without fear of random deportations,” Coakley said during an appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”

The archbishop acknowledged the importance of border security while emphasizing that it should not come at the expense of human dignity. “There is no conflict necessarily between advocating for safe and secure borders and treating people with respect and dignity,” he explained. “We always have to treat people with dignity, God-given dignity. The state doesn’t award it, and the state can’t take it away.”

Coakley’s comments come amid intensifying immigration enforcement actions since Trump returned to the White House in January. The crackdown has had measurable impacts on Catholic communities, with some parishes reporting significantly reduced Mass attendance due to fears of immigration raids.

In communities with larger immigrant populations, the effects are particularly pronounced. “There is a great deal of fear and uncertainty, anxiety because of the level of rhetoric that is often employed when addressing issues around migration and the threats of deportation,” Coakley observed.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently adopted a “special message” specifically condemning the mass deportation agenda and what they described as the “vilification” of migrants. The bishops expressed particular concern about conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care for detainees.

“We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement,” the statement reads. “We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants.” The message explicitly opposed “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.”

Pope Leo XIV has endorsed the bishops’ position, urging local church leaders to speak out on social justice concerns. The Pope has suggested that support for what he termed “inhuman treatment of immigrants” may contradict pro-life values, establishing a clear Vatican position on U.S. immigration policy.

Though Coakley is often aligned with the church’s social conservatives, he has been consistent in his criticism of harsh immigration enforcement. In January, he issued a statement emphasizing that “the majority of undocumented immigrants in Oklahoma are upstanding members of our communities and churches, not violent criminals.”

The archbishop outlined a fundamental principle in Catholic social teaching regarding migration: “People have a right to remain in their homeland, but they also ought to be allowed to migrate when conditions in their homeland are unsafe and necessitate moving to a place where they can find peace and security.”

This stance has gained additional institutional weight with Pope Leo XIV’s appointment of Bishop Ronald Hicks as the next archbishop of New York, replacing the more conservative Cardinal Timothy Dolan. The leadership change signals potential strengthening of the church’s advocacy on immigration issues.

Coakley reinforced that immigration policy must never compromise human dignity. “I don’t think we can ever say that the end justifies the means,” he stated. “That’s kind of a foundational bedrock thing for us, that people are to be respected and treated with dignity, whether they are documented or undocumented, whether they are here legally or illegally, they don’t forfeit their human dignity.”