Under Pope Leo, MAGA-Country Catholics Stand Up to Trump’s ICE Raids

500 nuns marching, bishops rebuking, parishes mobilizing — six red states, one Church.

Across MAGA country, Catholics are now the most visible, organized counterweight to Trump’s renewed ICE operations.

The activity is public, coordinated, and — unlike much of Trump’s first term — being supported by the American bishops under the leadership of Pope Leo.

As I told Dan Merica at The Washington Post, twelve years of Pope Francis appointees have yielded an episcopacy more willing to engage in contested public space. You can see it on the ground.

Look at these stories I’ve covered this summer alone:

• Georgia: Roughly 500 Catholic sisters processed through downtown Atlanta —part of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious gathering — to keep migrant protections and creation care in public view. The march was devotional, but the objective was civic: signal sustained attention to immigrant dignity in a fast-growing Southern city.

• Kansas: Deep in Trump country, the Catholic bishops of Wichita, Dodge City, and Salina issued a joint letter blasting President Trump’s ICE raids. They called the “unnecessary raids, mass detentions, and family separations” a “betrayal of the gospel. Emphasizing that Christian faith “demands compassion and justice” for vulnerable families, the bishops urged Kansans to welcome immigrants as neighbors, not criminals. For a state Trump won by 16 points, this clear moral rebuke is striking.

• Texas: At the border in South Texas, a grassroots movement of clergy has emerged. Jesuits and other priests and nuns have begun accompanying detained asylum-seekers into immigration court, not as lawyers but as prayerful witnesses. One nun explained, “Even though we can’t do anything for them legally, we can be there to support them.” Their presence has disrupted secretive courthouse round-ups, giving families comfort and occasionally stopping deportations in their tracks. It’s literally faith standing between ICE agents and the frightened children in the room.

• Florida: In the Everglades, Catholics took on the Trump administration’s new “Alligator Alcatraz” detention camp. The private facility was built in a week and initially barred all clergy from accessing it. After protests and a rosary-led motorcycle ride, Archbishop Thomas Wenski won permission for priests to celebrate Mass inside. Wenski denounced the earlier ban as an “intentional effort to dehumanize” migrants. Trump and his minions tried to block the sacraments, but Wenski and the bikers said not a chance — and won.

• West Virginia: Even in deep-red Appalachia, Bishop Mark Brennan of Wheeling has spoken out. In a public letter, he condemned the “harsh measures” and “wholesale assault” of immigration raids and urged all West Virginians to “affirm the humanity of all immigrants, regardless of legal status.” Citing Gospel teaching, Brennan reminded his flock — and the ICE agents — that “an unjust law does not bind in conscience.” Quoting the Nuremberg precedent, he warned that no one can hide behind “I was just following orders.” It was a powerful call in a state Trump won by 41 points.

• Tennessee: In my home state, our own three dioceses in Tennessee issued a rare joint statement after ICE raids in Nashville, warning that the actions had “spread fear” in immigrant communities. The bishops noted that many local people now fear being detained “while simply attending Mass or participating in parish life.” By speaking together, the bishops underscored that Gospel values of mercy must outweigh partisan politics, reassuring faithful Catholics that the Church stands with the vulnerable.

These snapshots from West Virginia to Texas paint a clear picture: Catholics in MAGA country are living up to the highest ideals of the faith, even as the president doubles down on hardline policies.

Bishops and laypeople are emphasizing mercy, human dignity, and solidarity — core Catholic teachings — in a way we rarely saw during the first Trump era.

I couldn’t be prouder: Catholics are meeting the moment with courage and compassion, and Francis’s generation of bishops is turning solidarity with the stranger into a Leonine age of action.

In red states and blue, the conscience of the Church is alive and unafraid.

Letters from Leo exists for moments like this.

When sisters, bishops, and laypeople in MAGA country put their bodies on the line for migrant families, their witness can’t be drowned out by the noise of our politics.

This newsletter is here to amplify that good news and spread in a world desperate for signs of hope.

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