Archbishop Broglio, USCCB president, supports immigrants, rips ICE raids

June 17, 2025

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, speaking in his role as president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has issued a statement of support for immigrants, sharply criticizing the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to deport illegal immigrants.

“Count on the commitment of all of us to stand with you in this challenging hour,” Archbishop Broglio said, in a statement released June 16.

Citing the message that Pope Leo XIV delivered to Americans in a video message to an event in Chicago, the USCCB leader said that “it seems appropriate to give voice to a profound concern in the hearts of the shepherds of the Church in our country.” He added that “no one can turn a deaf ear to the palpable cries of anxiety and fear heard in communities throughout the country in the wake of a surge in immigration enforcement actions.”

“The many actions of protest throughout the country reflect the moral sentiments of many Americans that enforcement alone cannot be the solution to addressing our nation’s immigration challenges,” the archbishop continued.

Archbishop Broglio decried the “chronic lack of opportunities for legal status for our immigrant brothers and sisters, together with the growing denial of due process to them,” and complained of “unfounded accusations against Catholic service providers” in the current crackdown. He argued:

Law enforcement actions aimed at preserving order and ensuring community security are necessary for the common good. However, the current efforts go well beyond those with criminal histories. In the context of a gravely deficient immigration system, the mass arrest and removal of our neighbors, friends and family members on the basis of immigration status alone, particularly in ways that are arbitrary or without due process, represent a profound social crisis before which no person of good will can remain silent.

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• Posted by: kmmcki - Jun. 18, 2025 5:02 PM ET USA

  Their legal status is "illegal immigrants'. The archbishop uses "immigrant" to drop a moral mantle about their shoulders. He's concerned about their "due process" rights. Will he explain the "due process" employed by each to enter our country? He won't. Crossing the border illegally is a felony. Period. I'm a 2nd generation Irishman, am I to quake in my shoes because ICE is enforcing the law? No. The Church is losing congregants like the Dem party is losing voters. Illegals fill the bill.

• Posted by: navynurseprac9347 - Jun. 18, 2025 4:42 PM ET USA

  Maybe the Vatican should open their borders to the 20 million that invaded the US and see how long it takes for them to go bankrupt with the free bees we gave them

• Posted by: Crusader - Jun. 18, 2025 11:36 AM ET USA

  Archbishop Broglio decried the “chronic lack of opportunities for legal status for our immigrant(s)..." In the past 10 years we have averaged a little over one million legal immigrants, so there are many legal opportunities. The bishops always say they are for secure borders, but when asked if someone who crossed those secure borders illegally should be sent back, they say no. So their secure border statement is meaningless.

• Posted by: axiombob7465 - Jun. 18, 2025 8:36 AM ET USA

  The assertion that "current efforts go well beyond those with criminal histories" does not account for the practice that, in order to capture hardened criminals in sanctuary cities, raids are conducted in their respective frequented areas, since local authorities will not detain these criminals for deportation. Thus, "non-criminal" illegal immigrants are also captured in the raid. A lack of cooperation between local, state, and federal government causes the hardship amongst non-targeted aliens.

• Posted by: howwhite5517 - Jun. 17, 2025 8:51 PM ET USA

  He is way off base, open borders is not a good prescription for a country. He should attend to his flock.

• Posted by: dover beachcomber - Jun. 17, 2025 7:43 PM ET USA

  Someone should inform the Archbishop that the mere act of entering the United States in any way other than that prescribed in law is a crime in itself. Thus EVERY person residing illegally in the country has a criminal history. The normal penalty for that crime is deportation, and that is the only penalty being imposed by the current administration. It is the Archbishop who is urging adoption of an unjust policy of excessive leniency.

• Posted by: grateful1 - Jun. 17, 2025 7:02 PM ET USA

  Broglio has shown himself to be profoundly ignorant about our Constitution and about what it means to be a nation of laws. His pride in displaying it makes me doubt he understands Catholicism any better. Educate yourself, Padre, before you squander whatever theological credibility you may have by presuming to lecture the rest of us on...well...anything.

• Posted by: miketimmer499385 - Jun. 17, 2025 3:22 PM ET USA

  The Archbishop speak in glittering generalities but that is not how US civil and criminal law is applied. I would be open to a specific list of complaints but until he can muster who, what, where, when, and how, it's my humble opinion that he and all clergy should focus their attention on what they should be doing as individuals and shepherds of their flocks. Until that time, this a just a misplaced civil diatribe probably in response to the pause in specific aid programs found to be corrupt.