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President Donald Trump received a rare rebuke from the Catholic Church after the Bishop of Charleston released a lengthy public statement condemning the U.S. immigration system, slamming the president’s mass deportation efforts while crediting President George W. Bush’s “acceptable” plans.
Bishop Mark Brennan, who presides over the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston encompassing all of West Virginia, said America was “built on the backs of men and women who came from other countries, whether freely or in chains.”
“Now we see our government adopting harsh measures to deport as many immigrants as possible, often without distinguishing between true criminals and law-abiding persons.”
“A government that says it wants to help families is willing to separate immigrant parents from their children. A government that oversees the economy wants to expel millions of workers upon whom the economy depends,” Brennan went on.
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The prelate said some parishioners have spoken to him about their support for Trump during the 2024 campaign over his pledge of a secure border that is now waning due to a “wholesale assault on the majority of immigrants…”
“You expected a laser beam approach, not a floodlight,” Brennan said.
The bishop compared some immigrants’ plight to Matthew 2, which describes how Mary and Joseph fled Israel with an infant Jesus Christ.
“Get up and take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you. For, Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him,” that Scripture reads.
“Our Church looks at the person, not his or her legal status, and, following Christ’s teaching and example, reaches out to help the immigrant,” Bishop Brennan continued.
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“A person is more important than legal status. Even prisoners in jail are fed, clothed and have their health problems addressed, at least in well-run prisons.”
He went on to praise the work Catholic Charities does to help migrants, and added that illegal entry into the U.S. is on the same misdemeanor statutory level as loitering and shoplifting.
Hearkening back to the 19th Century, Brennan noted the Fugitive Slave Act had been used to “calm tensions” between the states and that Northern states refused to cooperate because they saw it as an unjust law.
“It is Catholic teaching that an unjust law does not bind in conscience. But one must be willing to accept the consequences of civil disobedience. Martin Luther King, Jr., was willing to go to jail rather than acquiesce in unjust laws, a willingness shared by pro-life activists and people protesting nuclear arms,” Brennan added.
The bishop, however, added that both political parties have failed to substantively address immigration reform.
“Republican President George W. Bush presented an acceptable if imperfect plan to reform immigration laws, but his own party shot it down,” he said.
“Democratic President Barack Obama said he would act on immigration reform but, with Democrats in control of Congress his first two years, he did not do so,” Brennan added. “Our politicians have failed us.”
The White House called the statement “rife with inaccuracies and misinformation. It’s wrong and offensive to conflate ILLEGAL (sic) immigrants with legal immigrants who have followed the law and entered the country the right way.”
“Anyone who has broken the law and entered the United States illegally is, by definition, not a ‘law-abiding person.’ President Trump is keeping his promise to the American people to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in history, and unlike prior failed leaders like Joe Biden, he is empowering federal law enforcement officers to do their job and enforce the law. And without laws we are not a nation at all,” said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson.
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