MaeveWharton

As a central policy of President Trump’s administration, immigration operations have increased across the country. 

Images of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents brandishing weapons and forcing unarmed civilians, children and families into unmarked vans have circulated across the internet. 

In the face of widespread fear and confusion, the Catholic Church has taken a stand. The United States Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) released a statement taking a stance of solidarity with their “immigrant brothers and sisters” in November 2025. 

Deacon Tim McNeil, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Omaha, shared his reaction to the message. “It was important at that time for U.S. Bishops to speak into the migration, refugee, and immigration issue…it’s important that their voices [were] heard.” 

“We have heard from our immigrant communities and parishes that there is anxiety and fear,” McNeil said. “We do our best … to listen to them, be with them, let them know they’re not alone.”

As published on Dec. 22 by Guardian reporters Will Craft and Andrew Witherspoon, the number of people in U.S. immigrant detention centers has hit an all-time high of 68,400. As of December, the Trump administration had arrested around 328,000 people, deporting 327,000 of them. 

This soaring number of arrests has been enabled by different branches of government, including the Supreme Court. According to the National Immigration Council, in September 2025, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on the case of Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo. 

The court granted an emergency request from the Trump administration, “allow[ing] agents once again to stop and arrest people based on how they look, the language they speak, where they live, and the kind of work they do,” Jennifer Chacón, a Law Professor and Associate Dean of Stanford Law School’s JD program, wrote in the Stanford Law School Blog. 

In other words, “the Supreme Court signaled its support for ICE’s continued use of racial profiling in immigration policing,” Chacón said.

Recently, all eyes have turned to Minnesota following the murder of civilian Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross. Protestors flooded the streets of Minneapolis after the deadly shooting, while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the Trump administration swiftly labeled Good as a “domestic terrorist,” as reported on Jan. 10 by Ray Sanchez of CNN. 

Both the Minneapolis mayor and the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, have denounced ICE’s actions and presence within Minneapolis. 

While anti-ICE demonstrations and calls for the agency’s dissolution spread nationally, the reality of many immigrant communities is continual fear. Schools, churches and hospitals, once safe havens, are now centers of ICE’s attention. 

The USCCB is “troubled by threats against the sanctity of houses of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools,” and stated that  “generations of immigrants have made enormous contributions to the well-being of our nation.”

“I do not like to see immigration officials at those sites or locations,” McNeil said, “Let them heal” in these sacred places of worship.

He emphasizes that the Catholic Church hasn’t “picked a team” politically, but has “inserted itself into public policy initiatives” such as the “fair, …equal and honorable treatment of immigrants.” 

The Church honors law enforcement’s “right to enforce public policy and laws,” while also “making sure … that the law is not excessively enforced,” McNeil said. 

In his words, “people have a right to … flourish in their countries. But they also have a right to leave their country if they can’t flourish there.”

The Catholic Church is calling on all to stand in solidarity with immigrants in this time of need. “Solidarity [means] … that we insert ourselves, we get as close as we can [to] the people who are suffering, people in need, and we stay with them,” McNeil said. 

“We always have to do what’s expected of us, when we encounter any other human being, that is to honor and uphold their human dignity.”