Bishops demand reforms to US immigration enforcement after rights violations

The US bishops’ conference also urged the Supreme Court to strike down Donald Trump’s executive order abolishing birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants.

A group of 19 Catholic bishops released a statement calling for reforms to the conduct of immigration enforcement in the hours leading up to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.

In their statement before the address on 24 February, the bishops acknowledged the right of the government to enforce the law but said that “those laws should be upheld in a manner that protects the God-given human dignity and rights of the human person”.

“We speak out as pastors in border states and beyond concerned about the impact of the Department of Homeland Security’s recent and ongoing immigration enforcement activities against individuals and families who are without legal status in our country,” the bishops said.

Among a host of policy proposals, they suggested that the right to apply for asylum at the border should be honoured, noting that migrants and refugees have the right to do so under US and international law.

“Denying them this right leaves them in dangerous conditions and situations, subject to abuse by criminal organisations. Access to asylum at the border should be fully restored,” the bishops wrote.

The prelates’ other policy proposals included calling on the federal government to restore a policy of not arresting migrants in “sensitive locations”, such as places of worship, schools and health care facilities. They said immigrant families should be kept together and that enforcement operations should not focus on those whose only offence was crossing the border without documents.

“As such, we believe that immigrants and their families who are contributing to the common good should not be targeted for removal,” the bishops said.

The statement, signed by several bishops of border dioceses, also reaffirmed the message from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in November 2025 opposing “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people”, stating that mass deportations are “detrimental to the human rights of our fellow human beings and not in the best interest of the nation”.

On 26 February the USCCB filed an amicus brief urging the US Supreme Court to strike down President Trump’s executive order abolishing birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants. The brief said the bishops’ opposition to the president’s executive order was motivated by “their firmly held belief that each person is endowed by God with an inherent dignity that confers certain universal, inviolable and inalienable rights”.

A day earlier, the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace (CSJP) in the US urged the software company Palantir to conduct a human rights impact assessment of the use of its software by governmental agencies – particularly US Immigration and Customs Enforcement – allegedly to violate human rights. 

The CSJP announced on 25 February that Palantir had declined to implement a shareholder proposal filed by the congregation in December, asking the company to conduct and publish a report describing actual and potential human rights impacts associated with the use of its products and services. 

“As people of faith, we echo the words of Pope Leo XIV urging us to ensure that technology is used in defence of human persons, not to harm them,” said Sr Susan Francois, assistant congregation leader. 

Palantir develops data integration and analytics platforms and has been criticised for helping expand government surveillance through artificial intelligence and facial recognition technologies.

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