Church leaders continue to urge Catholics to aid immigrants as government defends deportations
U.S. Church leaders urged Catholics on the World Day of Migrants and Refugees to pray for immigrants, offer help, and advocate for policy changes amid federal immigration enforcement. Cardinal Robert McElroy condemned what he called the government’s deliberate magnification of undocumented people’s suffering, citing the detention of children and the case of a 5-year-old boy and his father. McElroy criticized the termination of temporary protected status for nearly one million people, while the Trump administration defended the policy by saying conditions had improved and the program had been abused. Pope Leo XIV chose “Even Just One of These Children” as the observance’s theme, drawing on Jesus’ teaching about welcoming children. The article also reports that Yakima Bishop Joseph Tyson issued a message on deportations.
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Catholic leaders used the 2026 World Day of Migrants and Refugees to call for prayer, practical help for immigrants, and changes to immigration policy, criticizing enforcement they described as indiscriminate. The administration defended broad deportation enforcement, while an immigration-policy expert argued that laws must be enforced even against people without other criminal convictions.
Pope Leo XIV titled this year’s observance “Even Just One of These Children,” invoking Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:5 about welcoming a child. In a Sept. 27 homily, Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington said the suffering of undocumented people had been magnified by government policy and criticized the detention and separation of children from their families.
McElroy cited the case of Liam Ramos, a 5-year-old detained with his father in Minneapolis. The article gives differing descriptions of the detention’s length: McElroy is quoted describing the boy as held for a month, while its account of the judge’s order says the pair had been held for about 10 days before their release was ordered on Jan. 31. In March, an immigration judge denied the family’s asylum claim and ordered them removed to Ecuador.
McElroy also objected to the termination of temporary protected status (TPS) for nearly 1 million people, saying those covered by the program had not broken the law. The article explains that TPS applies when the Department of Homeland Security determines that a country is temporarily unsafe because of conflict, disaster, or other extraordinary conditions; recipients are lawfully present and authorized to work while their designation remains in effect, but staying after its termination is a civil immigration violation.
The administration said it ended TPS designations because conditions in some countries had improved and argued that the program had been abused and had become a “de facto amnesty.”
Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima, Washington, said his county appeared to be disproportionately targeted by immigration enforcement. Citing Freedom of Information Act data he obtained, Tyson said fewer than one-quarter of people detained by ICE there from March through August had criminal records, and he called for deportations focused on people with serious criminal records rather than immigrants who had lived in the country for years or were pursuing legal status.
Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge and immigration-policy expert, countered that immigration laws require enforcement and that interior enforcement is necessary for border security. He said deportation does not require a “serious” criminal conviction and criticized McElroy’s description of enforcement as a “wholesale war” on immigrants, arguing that the language denigrated federal officers.
The Department of Homeland Security rejected a report that ICE officials had been told to stop arresting people whose only immigration offense was entering or remaining in the country illegally. DHS said it would continue to arrest and deport anyone in the country unlawfully.
Christian ethics grounds duties toward migrants and vulnerable children
Christian ethics grounds duties toward migrants—and especially migrant children—in the dignity God gives every human person, not in a person’s citizenship, legal status, religion, or usefulness. Pope Leo XIV says children’s dignity and fundamental rights must be recognized before they are categorized as migrants; their rights include life, education, and conditions for full development. He calls Christians not to grow accustomed to their suffering or treat them as statistics.
The Gospel gives this duty a specifically Christian force: welcoming the stranger is a way of welcoming Christ. The Church therefore understands care for migrants not as optional generosity alone, but as solidarity with people in need and, in some circumstances, as justice owed to them.
For vulnerable children, that duty means more than emergency assistance. It includes protection from exploitation and abuse, preserving family unity where possible, access to education, and sustained welcome and integration in parish and community life. Pope Leo calls on the whole Christian community—not only specialist charities—to help children belong and to prevent isolation and rejection.
These obligations also concern public institutions: the Pope says they must prioritize each child’s dignity and best interests, including through effective safeguards and attention to the trauma caused by family separation. Catholic teaching on welcoming migrants does not by itself settle every question about immigration policy; the US bishops’ guidance, for example, calls for receiving migrants in light of Christ’s teaching while also assuring citizens’ security. But policy debate cannot erase the basic moral duty to protect human dignity, particularly where children are at risk.