300 Catholic leaders including 15 bishops ask Senate to reject ICE funding if no reforms
The 300 Catholic leaders are asking that Congress approve protections for migrants in any funding bill to prioritize family unity and alternatives to detention.
About 300 Catholic leaders, including 15 bishops, sent a letter to the Senate this week asking lawmakers to reject funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if the appropriations bill does not include protections for migrants.
Republicans and Democrats reached a temporary deal on the appropriations bill, which extends funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which operates ICE, for just two weeks. The bill will likely receive a vote Saturday, but lawmakers will need to further negotiate DHS and ICE funds in early February even if it passes.
The main point of contention over the bill is ICE funding, with Democrats opposing the mass deportation efforts of President Donald Trump’s administration. Negotiations over the funding became more tense after border patrol agents shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti during a confrontation at an anti-ICE protest in Minneapolis this month.
The letter from Catholic leaders, which includes Santa Fe, New Mexico, Archbishop John C. Wester and Seattle Archbishop Paul D. Etienne among the signatories, asked the Senate to oppose ICE funding for similar reasons: opposition to Trump’s mass deportation initiative.
“Catholic social teaching affirms that the family is the basic unit of society, willed by God and deserving of protection in law and public policy,” the letter reads. “Recent immigration enforcement actions carried out under DHS authority have heightened our concern that this fundamental principle is being compromised. In many communities, enforcement practices have resulted in families being separated with little warning or recourse.”
The letter expresses concern about parents getting detained “without the opportunity to prepare their children” and spouses being separated from each other, which they say undermines family stability and inflicts lasting harm, especially on children.
“For these reasons, we cannot support legislation that expands or sustains enforcement practices without adequately addressing their consequences for families and communities,” the letter continues. “A DHS budget that prioritizes detention and removal — while lacking strong safeguards for family unity, due process, and accountability — risks entrenching harm rather than promoting justice or public safety.”
The letter also accuses federal officials of engaging in a “disproportionate use of force and the erosion of civil liberties” in response to protests.
The Catholic leaders are asking that any funding bill include protections that ensure family unity, requires people to be treated “with respect and care in recognition of their inherent dignity,” and that alternatives to detention are prioritized and oversight and accountability be in place “to prevent “abuses that devastate families and communities.”
“Our faith calls us to recognize Christ in every person; this includes the migrant, the refugee, and the child who bears the pain of separation,” they continued. “To disregard that suffering is to turn away from a core moral responsibility we share as a society.”
Other bishops who joined in the letter include El Paso, Texas, Bishop Mark Seitz; Lexington, Kentucky, Bishop John Stowe; San Diego Bishop Michael Pham; and Superior General of the Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart Bishop John Ricard. Leaders of several Catholic organizations, such as Jesuit Refugee Service USA President Kelly Ryan and Catholic Volunteer Network Executive Director Cecilia Flores.
The letter noted the concerns of the signatories were grounded in a message approved by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in November 2025, which opposed “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.” The statement received overwhelming support from the bishops, who approved it with a 216-5 vote.
Cardinal Robert McElroy of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., joined a separate interfaith statement with non-Catholic religious leaders in the Washington, D.C., area on Jan. 29, which criticized the killings of two U.S. citizens at anti-ICE protests in Minnesota.
“We condemn without reservation the use of indiscriminate and lethal force against civilians,” the joint statement read. “The actions we have witnessed in recent days represent a grave departure from our nation’s deepest moral commitments and from the values of human dignity, restraint, and accountability that our faith traditions uphold.”
Many Catholic organizations have provided charitable services for migrants and some Catholics, including clergy, have engaged in activism and protests against the deportation efforts.
The Catholic nonprofit Pax Christi recently launched STAND, which is an acronym for Solidarity to Advocate for Neighbors’ Dignity. The initiative encourages Catholics to pray for migrants, study Catholic teaching on migrants, and contact lawmakers and engage in public witness.
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