Raiding Churches is Only the Beginning of Trump’s Attacks on Religion

Ending the refugee resettlement program targets religious institutions more than anything

Photo by Noah Holm on Unsplash

In an interview with Margaret Brennan of CBS News last Sunday, Vice-President JD Vance attacked the Catholic Church and its refugee resettlement program. When pressed about the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops condemning President Donald Trump’s executive orders allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to conduct raids in churches and schools, Vance said he supported the move. But he didn’t stop there.

“I think that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line? We’re going to enforce immigration law. We’re going to protect the American people,” said Vance

He then invoked Laken Riley’s name while equating the raids to “doing law enforcement against violent criminals” and didn’t address the targeting of migrant children. He then continued to bemoan the Conference of Catholic Bishops by saying it has “not been a good partner in common sense immigration enforcement that the American people…