What President Trump Should Say To The Pope About Immigration

The answer to world poverty is not open U.S. borders.

The Election of Pope Leo XIV captured the attention of the World. Among the many issues he will need to address is Pope Francis’ view on immigration and the United States. That represents an enormous opportunity for President Trump to make a lasting difference on that issue.

Pope Francis and President Trump certainly had different views on immigration.

Francis famously wrote to the Bishops of the United States, “The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.”

President Trump, of course, campaigned on an aggressive program to crackdown on illegal immigration. In practice, that has included deporting illegal immigrants.

So, who is right on the subject?

In answering that question, the following is worth noting.

First, the job of the Church is NOT civil administration. As it relates to humans, it includes the care of souls, regardless of their condition or status. Hence the Catholic Church’s care of immigrants, legal or otherwise.

Consistent with that, before expressing his critical judgment referenced above, Pope Francis wrote that “Jesus Christ, loving everyone with a universal love, educates us in the permanent recognition of the dignity of every human being, without exception.”

On the other hand, the job the U.S. federal government is different than that of the Church. It includes the safety of its citizens and the stability of the country.

Most of the U.S. wants a crackdown on illegal immigration, including some level of deportation. Many support the border wall Pope Francis opposed.

So, what should the U.S. President say to the new Pope on the subject?

In my view, President Trump should make the case that has not been made to date with sufficiency. To do that, he should not dispute the Church’s doctrine that everyone is disserving of universal love.

Instead, President Trump should make the case that the Church’s civil application of its religious doctrine with respect to immigration does not work with respect to the Southern border. Indeed, under President Biden it caused far more harm than good.

President Trump needs to make the following case:

1. The answer to world poverty is not open U.S. borders. The United States cannot possibly handle all of the World’s poor nor is it good policy to have the World’s dictators simply deport people they don’t want.

2. The hell that many, but not all, illegal immigrants experience to get the U.S.’s Southern border, i.e., violence, murder, rape, starvation, dehydration, death, sex trafficking, hundreds of thousands of lost children, et. al., is NOT charitable. One such occurrence is too much – hundreds of thousands, if not millions over time, is a tragedy.

3. Incentivizing that activity is not charitable – for the politicians who do so, it is selfish beyond all limits and deeply cynical.

4. Open borders in the nuclear terrorist age are an unacceptable risk. Even Pope Francis wrote that “One must recognize the right of a nation to defend itself and keep communities safe from those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or prior to arrival.”

5. Most importantly, in the long run, there will be much greater harm, to many, many more people, by NOT enforcing law and order than any possible harm that arising it from enforcing law and order in the short term. Similarly, government programs that seem charitable on their face, like endless welfare, have long term negative consequence. Neither are charitable in the long run.

The abundant evidence of the foregoing must be put in the hands of the Pope and all Americans.

In the final analysis, the question remains, what is best for the poor of the World – many of whom want to come to the United States.

The Church believes that the United States should care about them.

The real question is how to do that?

The Biden Administration was a study in what not to do for the reasons stated above.

Instead, President Trump should make the case that law and order, exporting freedom, trade not just aid, and an orderly immigration process are not only better for the American border, but for the World as well.