A Heartfelt Plea To US Catholic Bishops

An Open Letter to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops 

Your Excellencies,

In light of your repeated public condemnations of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, I feel compelled to speak plainly. And I do so as a lifelong Catholic and a graduate of a unapologetically Catholic university.

Many of your statements suggest that any attempt to enforce the border or uphold immigration law is somehow un-Christian. That is not what the Church teaches, and it is not what basic honesty requires. Failure to distinguish between legal and illegal immigration is inherently dishonest.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear:

• “Political authorities… may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions.” (CCC 2241)

• “The common good requires peace, security, and order.” (CCC 1909)

Those lines don’t come with an asterisk. They affirm that nations—ours included—have both the right and the duty to secure their borders, regulate immigration, ensure the safety of their citizens and preserve their national identity. 

There should be no doubt whatsoever about this. Indeed, Venerable Pope Pius XII declared: "It is quite legitimate for nations to treat their differences as a sacred inheritance and protect them at all costs." Those difference include our unique history, traditions, culture, language and yes -- our borders. The Church has never taught open borders, and she certainly has never held that compassion means ignoring lawlessness or abandoning prudence.

Yet your public commentary often sounds as though any firm border enforcement policy is automatically immoral, while the chaos, exploitation, and violence surrounding the border crisis are treated as secondary concerns. And many Catholics can’t help but notice something else: the hierarchy seems to be far less vocal when American citizens suffer horrific crimes at the hands of individuals who should not have been in this country at all.

• Where were the strong statements when families lost loved ones to drunk drivers who had been deported multiple times?
• Where was the episcopal outcry when young women were assaulted, raped and/or murdered by repeat border crossers?
• Where were the pastoral letters when fentanyl—trafficked across a lawless border—killed tens of thousands in our communities?

This apparent silence is hard to ignore. And it leads many faithful Catholics to wonder whether the suffering of their own families and neighborhoods counts for less in your moral calculus than the political narratives surrounding immigration. Worse yet, it appears to align you with destructive nihilist causes that are at odds with the Church's fundamental moral teachings on issues such as the right to life and the sanctity of the family. 

Surely, you must understand the potential consequences of your actions. The truth is simple: charity does not require naïveté. Compassion does not mean abandoning common sense. And the call to welcome the stranger does not erase the state’s obligation—explicitly affirmed in Catholic teaching—to protect its citizens and maintain lawful order.

Your Excellencies, we need you to present the full teaching of the Church, not only the parts that fit comfortably into contemporary activism or appear to be in harmony with a convenient and sadly, politicized interpretation of social justice.  Immigration enforcement is a matter of prudential judgment, where faithful Catholics—and public officials—may legitimately disagree. Refusing to recognize this misleads the faithful and undermines your own credibility.

I urge you to restore balance, clarity, and fairness to the Church’s public witness on this issue. The stakes—for our nation and our communities—are too high for anything less.

Respectfully yet firmly, 

Daniel A. Cirucci