Florida Catholic bishops ask Trump to pause immigration raids for Christmas

Florida’s Catholic bishops made a plea Monday to halt immigration enforcement over the Christmas holiday, but the White House said operations would continue.

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski issued the appeal to President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and was signed by seven other members of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“The border has been secured,” Wenski wrote. “The initial work to identify and remove dangerous criminals has largely been accomplished. More than half a million people have been deported this year, and nearly two million more have been deported voluntarily.”

He continued: “At this stage, the maximum enforcement approach to treating illegal immigrants en masse means that many of these arrests inevitably sweep up numbers of people who are not criminals but are only there to work.” “It should be noted that the vast majority of detainees at Algator Alcatraz do not have a criminal background.”

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He noted that immigration checks sometimes include people with legal permission to be in the United States, and that surveys show that Americans believe immigration enforcement goes too far.

“Eventually, these cases may be resolved, but this takes several months, causing great grief for their families… The climate of fear and anxiety affects not only illegal immigrants, but also family members and neighbors who are legally in the country,” Wenski said.

“Since these traces are part of law enforcement operations, we ask the government to stop arrest and arrest activities during the Christmas season,” he said. “Such a pause would show proper respect for the humanity of these families. Now is not the time to be callous to the suffering caused by immigration enforcement.”

The White House did not directly address the appeal to halt the holiday, but said enforcement activities would be as usual.

“President Trump was elected on his promise to the American people to deport illegal criminal aliens. And he is keeping that promise,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Wenski, like many other Catholic leaders, has been an outspoken advocate for treating illegal immigrants humanely.

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The White House said immigration enforcement activities would continue as usual. (Getty Images)

In September, he joined other Catholic leaders on a Georgetown University panel that criticized the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown for dividing families, stoking fear and upending the life of the church.

Wenski also cited the contributions illegal immigrants make to the American economy.

“If you ask people in agriculture, ask people in the service industry, ask people in health care, ask people in construction, they will tell you that some of their best workers are immigrants,” Wenski said. “Implementation will always be part of any immigration policy, but we have to rationalize and humanize it.”

Wenski joined the Knights of Columbus ministry, an initiative led by the Knights of Columbus that aims to draw attention to the spiritual needs of immigrants detained in immigration detention centers, including the “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades. He recalled praying the rosary in the scorching heat outside its walls before receiving permission a few days later to celebrate Mass inside the facility.

He added: “The fact that we call these detainees to pray, even in this extremely humiliating situation, is a way to affirm and invoke their dignity.”

Last month, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted a “Special Letter” in which they criticized Trump’s mass deportation agenda and “vilification” of undocumented immigrants, expressing concern about the fear and anxiety that immigration raids stir up in communities, as well as the denial of pastoral care in detention centers.

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Pope Leo XIV urged local bishops to speak out about social justice concerns. (Grzegorz Galazka/Archiveview Gregorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

The special letter was endorsed by Pope Leo Dolan announced earlier this year that he would resign when he turned 75, which is required by Catholic law.

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“I think we have to look for ways to treat people humanely, to treat people with the dignity that they have,” Liu said last month. “If there are people in the United States illegally, there are ways to deal with that. There are courts, there is a justice system.”

The pope has previously urged local bishops to speak out on social justice concerns, and noted that people who support the “inhumane treatment of immigrants in the United States” may not be pro-life.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.