Vice President JD Vance Responds to Catholic Bishops’ Condemnation of Trump’s Deportations of Illegal Immigrants

Americans should be protected from a person who has been convicted of a violent crime – even if he or she is an illegal immigrant.

Vice President JD Vance expressed that common-sense sentiment during a far-ranging interview on CBS’ Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan that aired Sunday.

Host Brennan presented Vance, a practicing Catholic, with words of condemnation from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) regarding President Donald Trump’s executive orders to reclaim the nation’s boundaries.

In particular, she referenced a statement issued Tuesday by Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Benjamine Huffman that rescinded the Biden-Harris administration’s “guidelines for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) enforcement actions that thwart law enforcement in or near so-called ‘sensitive’ areas.”

A DHS spokesperson explained:

This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens—including murders [sic] and rapists—who have illegally come into our country. Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.

Brennan: Do you personally support the idea of conducting a raid or enforcement action in a church service, at a school?

Vice President Vance: Of course, if you have a person who is convicted of a violent crime, whether they're an illegal immigrant or a non-illegal immigrant, you have to go and get that person to protect the public safety. That's not unique to immigration. But let me just address the – this particular issue, Margaret. Because as a practicing Catholic, I was actually heartbroken by that statement. And I think that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line? We're going to enforce immigration law. We're going to protect the American people.

“Donald Trump promised to do that,” Vance continued, adding:

And I believe the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, if they're worried about the humanitarian costs of immigration enforcement, let them talk about the children who have been sex trafficked because of the wide open border of Joe Biden … Let them talk about people like Laken Riley … who are brutally murdered. I support us doing law enforcement against violent criminals, whether they're illegal immigrants or anybody else, in a way that keeps us safe.

A statement, released Thursday by the USCCB Office of Public Affairs, and offered by Bishop Mark J. Seitz, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration, Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, president and CEO, of Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), and Kerry Alys Robinson, president and CEO, of Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA), read “we uphold the belief that all people are conceived with inherent dignity, reflecting the image of God.”

“Through our parishes, shelters, hospitals, schools, and other Church institutions, we recognize that this dignity is not dependent on a person's citizenship or immigration status,” the Church officials said.

While they acknowledged that they “recognize the need for just immigration enforcement and affirm the government’s obligation to carry it out in a targeted, proportional, and humane way,” the Church leaders objected that “[w]ith the mere rescission of the protected areas guidance, we are already witnessing reticence among immigrants to engage in daily life, including sending children to school and attending religious services.”

“Our organizations stand ready to work on a better path forward that protects the dignity of all those we serve, upholds the sacred duty of our providers, and ensures our borders and immigration system are governed with mercy and justice,” they added.

Vance pushed ahead, nevertheless, with schooling Brennan on “the immigration issue.”

“If you had a violent murderer in a school, of course I want law enforcement … to go and get that person out,” he said to Brennan, who responded, “Of course.”

“So, then what's the point of the question?” the vice president asked.

“You changed the regulation this week, that's the point of the question,” the host argued, adding, “Giving the authority to go into churches … and go into schools.”

“Yes, exactly,” Vance affirmed, adding:

We empowered law enforcement to enforce the law everywhere, to protect Americans.

“But that also has a knock on effect – a chilling effect, arguably, to people to not send their kids to school,” she said.

Undeterred, Vance countered: “I – I desperately hope it has a chilling effect … on illegal immigrants coming into our country.”

“You think the US Conference of Catholics Bishops is – are actively hiding criminals from law enforcement?” the host continued her line of questioning.

Vance responded:

I think the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has, frankly, not been a good partner in common sense immigration enforcement that the American people voted for, and I hope, again, as a devout Catholic, that they'll do better.

Regarding the issue of birthright citizenship, Vance added:

If you come here on vacation and you have a baby in an American hospital, that baby doesn't become an American citizen. If you're an illegal alien and you come here temporarily, hopefully, your child does not become an … American citizen by virtue of just having been born on American soil. It's a very basic principle in American immigration law, that if you want to become an American citizen, and you've done it the right way, and the American people in their collective wisdom have welcomed you into our national community, then you become a citizen. But temporary residents, people who come in here, whether legally or illegally, and don't plan to stay, their children shouldn't become American citizens. I don't know any country that does that, or why we would be different.

Brennan then proceeded to defend “refugee admissions”:

That has nothing to do with the U.S. border. Refugee screening takes 18 to 24 months to go through. They are heavily vetted. Left literally at the airport this week were thousands of Afghans who – some of whom had worked with the United States government and were promised to come here. When you talked to us in August, you said, "I don't think we should abandon anybody who's been properly vetted and helped us." Do you stand by that?

“Well, Margaret, I don't agree that all these immigrants, or all these refugees, have been properly vetted,” Vance contradicted the host. “In fact, we know that there are cases of people who allegedly were properly vetted and then were literally planning terrorist attacks in our country. That happened during the campaign if you may remember. So clearly, not all of these foreign nationals have been properly vetted.”

“These people are vetted,” Brennan argued, but Vance again did not waver:

Just like the guy who planned a terrorist attack in Oklahoma a few months ago? He was allegedly properly vetted, and many people in the media and the Democratic Party said that he was properly vetted. Clearly he wasn't.

“I don't want my children to share a neighborhood with people who are not properly vetted, and because I don't want it for my kids, I'm not going to force any other American citizens’ kids to do that either,” the vice president asserted.

The USCCB released a statement on Sunday regarding its “Work with the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program”:

Faithful to the teaching of Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church has a long history of serving refugees. In 1980, the bishops of the United States began partnering with the federal government to carry out this service when Congress created the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). Every person resettled through USRAP is vetted and approved for the program by the federal government while outside of the United States. In our agreements with the government, the USCCB receives funds to do this work; however, these funds are not sufficient to cover the entire cost of these programs. Nonetheless, this remains a work of mercy and ministry of the Church.

USCCB President Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who also serves as Archbishop for the Military Services, USA, argued in a separate statement on Wednesday that the provision in Trump’s executive orders regarding “the treatment of immigrants and refugees” is among several that are “deeply troubling and will have negative consequences, many of which will harm the most vulnerable among us.”

During an appearance January 19 on a popular Italian talk show, Che Tempo Che Fa, Pope Francis also called Trump’s plan to reclaim the nation’s boundaries through the deportations of illegal immigrants “a disgrace.”