Pope Francis has urged the US President Donald Trump to rethink his policy to end a programme protecting undocumented migrant children, known as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals).
“I have heard it said that the President of the United States presents himself as a man who is pro-life, and if he is a good pro-life [man] then he will understand that the family is the cradle of life, and that it must be defended as a unit,” the Pope said during an in-flight press conference on board the plane returning to Rome from Colombia.
The US Bishops’ Conference and other Catholic organisations have pledged to spend the autumn months fighting to preserve DACA. In 2012, President Barack Obama initiated the programme that allowed undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children to “come out of the shadows”, get jobs or attend college, and avoid deportation. Earlier this month, Mr Trump announced he was ending the programme in six months, giving Congress time to devise a legislative solution.
Calling Mr Trump’s decision “reprehensible”, a statement signed by the President of the Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, and other conference leaders, said: “We strongly urge Congress to act and immediately resume work toward a legislative solution. We pledge our support to work on finding an expeditious means of protection for DACA youth.”
In a television interview with Charlie Rose on the popular US programme 60 Minutes, Catholic former presidential adviser Steve Bannon said the US bishops were “terrible on the issue of immigration”. “They need illegal aliens to fill the churches,” Mr Bannon said. “It’s obvious on the face of it […] They have an economic interest in unlimited illegal immigration.” New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan called Mr Bannon’s charge “preposterous and rather insulting”. On SiriusXM radio, he challenged Mr Bannon’s claim that this is not an issue of Catholic doctrine, noting the requirement to aid the immigrant comes directly from the Bible. “The Bible is so clear, that to respect the immigrant with dignity and respect […] is biblical mandate.”
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