- Faith-based groups have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to stop ICE arrests in places of worship. Congregation leaders said fear has caused a decrease in service attendance.
- President Donald Trump rolled back policies that restricted immigration enforcement at locations including churches and schools.
- Pope Francis said mass deportations will “end badly.”
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Dozens of religious groups are suing the Trump administration to protect their places of worship from immigration arrests. 27 organizations from Jewish and Christian faiths say their congregations have suffered a decrease in attendance out of fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, Feb. 11, comes after President Donald Trump rolled back long-standing policies that restricted immigration enforcement at sensitive locations such as churches, schools and hospitals.
The religious organizations said the Department of Homeland Security’s authorization to make detainments at places of worship violates the First Amendment, as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The Department of Homeland Security has not commented on the lawsuit.
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What is Pope Francis saying about deportations in the U.S.?
Pope Francis is criticizing the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement, writing a letter to bishops in the United States, calling mass deportations a major crisis and saying the efforts will “end badly.”
The pope also wrote that deporting people who have fled their homelands due to factors like extreme poverty, persecution and the deterioration of the environment “damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families.”
Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, responded to Pope Francis, outlining what he thinks the pope should be focusing on right now.
“The pope ought to fix the Catholic Church. I’m saying this as a lifelong Catholic,” Homan said Tuesday, Feb. 11. “He wants to attack us to secure our border. He’s got a wall around the Vatican, does he not?”
Pope Francis’ message for Vice President JD Vance
In the letter, Pope Francis also called out Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, for his use of theology to defend deportations.
During an interview with Fox News Jan. 29, Vance talked about how he thinks the far-left is completely inverting Trump’s “America first” stance, describing it as a Christian concept.
“You love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country,” Vance said. “And then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.”
Vance has not responded to the pope’s statement.
