NEW: Pope Leo Takes Aim at Trump’s Immigration Raids — “These Are God’s Children”

Two popes have castigated Donald Trump and JD Vance's immigration policies in the past six months.

Pope Leo spoke out consistently against Trump’s immigration policies even before his election on May 8, 2025/

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As the Trump-Vance deportation raids send shockwaves across the nation, Pope Leo issued a new letter today urging world leaders to see migrants not as threats, but as “bearers of hope.”

He decried a “widespread tendency” to prioritize “the interests of limited communities” over the common good.

Migrants and refugees, he insists, are “messengers” and “privileged witnesses of hope” whose courage amid war and injustice testifies to hope beyond what is visible.

He called on society to build a future of peace founded on the equal dignity of all, urging nations to welcome the stranger.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump and his Catholic vice president J.D. Vance have escalated their campaign of immigration raids across the country.

Federal agents are now even operating at churches and schools, after scrapping the policy that once protected such sacred spaces.

These raids have created a climate of fear, as ICE officers in tactical gear sweep into communities so heavy-handed that one Catholic bishop likened them to “secret police” operations meant to scare people into self-deportation.

U.S. bishops have rallied, offering sanctuary and moral witness against the crackdown; in San Diego, one bishop’s surprise visit to an immigration court sent ICE agents scattering instead of making arrests. They underscore that migrants are not faceless lawbreakers, but neighbors in need.

For Vance, a Catholic convert eyeing a 2028 presidential run, this immigration fight is a personal moral test.

He has accused Catholic bishops of caring more about their “bottom line”, arguing that Christian charity begins at home — you love fellow citizens before “the rest of the world.”

That earned him a rebuke from Rome.

The late Pope Francis sent an open letter to U.S. bishops condemning Trump’s mass deportations and warning that any policy built on brute force over human dignity “begins badly and will end badly”.

Vice President Vance met Pope Francis on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025. The Holy Father died the next morning.

Francis — noting that Jesus was a refugee — rejected Vance’s theology of exclusion and reminded him that Christian love “builds a fraternity open to all, without exception”.

Now Pope Leo has picked up where Francis left off, with two pontiffs denouncing the Trump-Vance approach.

Will Vance heed Pope Leo’s plea to treat migrants as brothers and sisters, or double down on an “America First” agenda the Church deems a betrayal of the Gospel?

Pope Leo preaches hope and human dignity, while the Trump-Vance camp offers fear and division.

Thank you for reading. Letters from Leo is 100% sustained by your generosity. If you find value in my work, please consider supporting me by becoming a paid subscriber today.

Paid subscriptions start at only $6.67 per month and will get you full access to the ongoing Fath and the Democratic Party essays and this multi-part series on the life and formation of Pope Leo. The third part of that series was released Monday.

Do you prefer a one-time gift? Donate here instead of subscribing.