Maura Moser (far left), director of the Catholic Communications Campaign, moderates a discussion on immigration with (left to right) Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, chair of the USCCB’s religious liberty committee, and Bishop Mark Seitz, chairman of the USCCB’s migration committee, on Nov. 11, 2025, during a press conference at the conference’s fall plenary assembly in Baltimore. / Credit: Shannon Mullen/National Catholic Register
Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 12, 2025 / 17:31 pm (CNA).
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) overwhelmingly voted to adopt a statement that opposes the indiscriminate mass deportation of immigrants who lack legal status and urged the government to uphold the dignity of migrants.
The bishops approved their special message on immigration at the 2025 Fall Plenary Assembly on Nov. 12. The motion passed with support from more than 95% of the American bishops who voted. It received 216 votes in favor, just five against, and only three abstentions.
“We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people,” the message emphasized.
“We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement,” it added. “We pray that the Lord may guide the leaders of our nation, and we are grateful for past and present opportunities to dialogue with public and elected officials.”
The bishops said they “are bound to our people by ties of communion and compassion in Our Lord Jesus Christ” and “are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants.”
“We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care,” they said.
“We lament that some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status,” they continued. “We are troubled by threats against the sanctity of houses of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools. We are grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school and when we try to console family members who have already been separated from their loved ones.”
The message recognized the contribution of immigrants and said the bishops feel compelled to “raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity” of migrants. They urged immigration reform and said “human dignity and national security are not in conflict.”
The statement also recognizes that governments have a “responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system for the sake of the common good.” It goes on to call for “safe and legal pathways” for immigration.
Scripture mandates compassion for “those who are most vulnerable,” including “the stranger,” the statement noted. The Church’s concern for migrants “is a response to the Lord’s command to love as he has loved us,” it added.
The original text of the message brought to the floor did not include the language plainly stating the bishops’ opposition to large-scale deportations, which was added in a last-minute amendment to the message.
Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago introduced the amendment. He said the message needs to be clear in telling migrants “we stand with you” by expressly opposing “the indiscriminate deportation of people that is taking place.”
No bishops spoke against Cupich’s amendment.
The last time the bishops approved a special pastoral message was in 2013 in opposition to a federal contraception mandate. Such messages are meant to show “the consensus of the body” of the U.S. Catholic bishops, according to a USCCB statement.
The discussion of deportations and immigration enforcement was a major theme throughout the duration of the plenary assembly.
On the previous day, USCCB Committee on Migration Chairman Bishop Mark Seitz announced a national initiative to provide accompaniment to migrants who are at risk of being deported, which was inspired by similar efforts already underway at dioceses across the country.
The initiative will focus on four areas: emergency and family support, accompaniment and pastoral care, communication of Church teaching, and solidarity through prayer and public witness.
In his address to his brother bishops, Seitz directly criticized President Donald Trump’s administration for carrying out the “campaign promise of mass deportations.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced in late October that the administration has carried out more than 527,000 deportations this year and another 1.6 million people have self-deported.
“This is just the beginning,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an Oct. 27 statement.
Pope Leo XIV has encouraged the American bishops to provide a more unified voice in support of the dignity of migrants. He met with Seitz and other bishops and supporters of migrants last month to discuss the plight of immigrants in the United States.
According to one person present, Dylan Corbett, the founding executive director of Hope Border Institute, Pope Leo told the group: “The Church cannot stay silent before injustice. You stand with me, and I stand with you.”
The Holy Father last week said that “there’s a deep reflection that needs to be made in terms of what’s happening” with migrants in detention after detainees were denied Communion at an Illinois Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.
McLaughlin told CNA last week detainees are “only briefly held [at that facility] for processing” and DHS could not accommodate religious services there for practical and safety reasons, but clergy are “more than welcome to provide services to detainees in ICE detention facilities.”
