In Massive Lie, Trump’s Catholic Press Secretary Rejects Pope Leo on Migrant Abuse

Karoline Leavitt claims the Trump administration treated immigrants humanely. The facts — and Pope Leo — say otherwise.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt — herself a Catholic — has flatly denied Pope Leo’s claim that the Trump administration is treating immigrants inhumanely.

In a press briefing this week, she insisted, “I would reject that there is inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants under this administration.”

Here’s the full video of her remarks.

This backlash is part of the coordinated MAGA pushback against Pope Leo XIV’s critique of President Trump’s administration.

I won’t mince words: Pope Leo is right, and not only is Karoline Leavitt wrong — she’s lying.

The evidence of cruelty is overwhelming.

• Zero-Tolerance Family Separation: Under Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy, thousands of children were ripped from their parents at the border. Human Rights Watch documented that by summer 2018, some 658 kids had already been taken – a practice it called “unjust and cruel.”
  
  The Associated Press confirmed “the Trump administration separated thousands of families” after prosecuting parents who crossed with their kids.This was not isolated: asylum-seeking parents were also routinely jailed apart from their children for long stretches.
  

• Mass Detention and New Camps: By September 2025, the Trump administration was detaining record numbers of migrants. Reuters reports roughly 57,000 people in ICE custody (a record high) and plans for a 5,000‑bed detention center on a Texas military base.
  
  They even shipped migrants to the Guantánamo Bay naval station. These vast cages and jail cells hardly fit Leavitt’s claim of “humane” enforcement.
  

• Expedited Removals and Harsh Monitoring: Analysts note that Trump’s team expanded “expedited removals” with minimal due process and even fitted asylum-seekers with ankle bracelets.
  
  Migrants fleeing violence or persecution have often been treated like criminals. Yet Leavitt praised Trump’s record on “protecting innocent life,” referring only to abortion restrictions — conveniently ignoring migrants’ suffering.

Every one of these facts contradicts Leavitt’s spin. Instead of confronting reality, she tried to score cheap points by blaming “the previous administration” for border violence.

She rattled off anecdotes about trafficked migrants and even a crime (the horrific murder of Laken Riley) to justify Trump’s crackdown against innocent children.

That, too, is a diversion.

The consistent record under Trump’s policies — documented by journalists, judges, human rights groups, and the Catholic Church, under the leadership of Pope Francis and Pope Leo — is one of relentless force.

In short, Karoline Leavitt lied.

The Trump administration’s border policies have been widely condemned as inhumane.

As I explained in yesterday’s column, this is a crass political, partisan attack against Pope Leo, not some thoughtful rebuttal from concerned Catholics.

MAGA’s reflex is to slander anyone who challenges them with the truth about Donald Trump and his White House — even the pope.

But Catholic social teaching demands we defend all life, including migrants.

That’s why Catholic bishops, priests, nuns, and lay people have spent all year fighting back in communities across this country.

This is the lesson Pope Leo XIV reminded us of, and no amount of rhetoric from Trump’s press shop can change it.

This pope gives us hope. MAGA is trying to slander him and take him down. We won’t let them. We stand with Leo.

Letters from Leo is open to anyone who wants to be informed and inspired by our pope — and to turn that inspiration into action that leaves America and the world more just, less cold, and more alive with hope.

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Thank you for reading. I’ll see you on the road.