Former Trump administration Border Czar Tom Homan is pushing back against Pope Francis’ recent criticism of mass deportations in the United States, calling the pontiff’s stance hypocritical given the Vatican’s fortified walls.
Homan, who served as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under former President Donald Trump, made the remarks in response to a letter from Pope Francis to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The letter condemned the deportation of migrants and asylum seekers, calling it a “major crisis” that undermines human dignity.
Speaking to reporters, Homan did not hesitate to criticize the pope’s position, emphasizing his own Catholic background.
“I’ve got harsh words for the pope,” Homan said. “I’m a baptized and confirmed Catholic, but he’s attacking us for securing our border while he has a wall around the Vatican, does he not? So, he’s got a wall to protect his people and himself, but we can’t have a wall around the United States?”
Homan further suggested that Pope Francis should focus on issues within the Catholic Church rather than weigh in on U.S. border policy.
“I wish he’d stick to the Catholic Church and fix that and leave border enforcement to us,” Homan stated.
Pope Francis’ letter outlined his concerns regarding U.S. immigration policy. While he acknowledged that every nation has the right to defend itself and protect its citizens, he stressed that deporting individuals fleeing extreme poverty, persecution, and environmental disasters significantly harms human dignity.
“The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution, or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness,” Francis wrote.
He urged U.S. officials to develop a more compassionate and humane approach to immigration, promoting “an authentic rule of law” that upholds the dignity of all people, especially the marginalized.
“The true common good is promoted when society and government, with creativity and strict respect for the rights of all, welcomes, protects, promotes, and integrates the most fragile, unprotected, and vulnerable,” the pope stated.
Homan’s comments reflect a broader debate within Christian and conservative circles regarding immigration policies. While some argue that strict border security measures are necessary for national sovereignty and safety, others contend that Christian teachings call for a more compassionate approach to immigrants and refugees.
Religious leaders across the spectrum have weighed in on the issue. The Rev. Jim Wallis, director of Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice, strongly criticized the Trump administration’s decision to remove a Department of Homeland Security policy that protected churches from immigration enforcement actions.
“The Trump administration threatens to violate sacred places of worship from living out their commandments to welcome ‘the stranger’ as instructed by our scriptures,” Wallis said in a statement to The Christian Post.
He argued that the policy shift was an “egregious assault on free exercise of religion” and violated the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Other religious leaders, such as Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, have expressed concerns but downplayed the idea that ICE would raid churches.
“They’re not going to come into churches, but they might be outside the parking lot area… looking for that criminal element to maybe come out of a church service — that gang member or that person who has a record,” Rodriguez said.
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