Cardinal Robert McElroy, archbishop of Washington, D.C., attacked President Donald Trump's immigration policies this week, calling the administration's enforcement crackdown "inhumane" and "morally repugnant."
"It's right to be able to control our borders, however, what's going on now is something far beyond that," McElroy told CNN on Tuesday. "It is a mass, indiscriminate deportation of men and women and children and families, which literally rips families apart and is intended to do so."
McElroy is among the Catholic Church's most progressive and outspoken voices, especially on the topic of immigration. He was appointed to lead the archdiocese in the nation's capital by Pope Francis in early January.
The cardinal spoke with CNN in Rome on the same day that the U.S. president traveled to Florida to visit a new migrant detention center in the Everglades known as "Alligator Alcatraz."
He told the outlet that the "mechanism" being used by the Republican administration was the "creation of fear" among 10 million foreign nationals living in the United States without legal authorization.
"This is simply not only incompatible with Catholic teaching, it's inhumane and is morally repugnant," McElroy said.
Arguing that the government has a right to deport people convicted of "serious crimes," McElroy said people are "afraid even to go to church" after the Trump administration removed the prohibition on making immigration arrests in sensitive areas.
"What is behind this?" he asked, referring to the more aggressive enforcement tactics. "I fear that one of the main things behind it, in the minds of many who are pushing it, is the sense that the people who are coming to our country now are of a different kind.
"And that's been a great theme in American culture and history all through our country's immigration, when the Irish came, when the Italians came, when the Poles came, the refrain has been the same, 'these are inferior people,' and that's what's going on now," McElroy said. "It's an outrage."
In a statement obtained by CNN, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said the "American people elected President Trump, not a DC Archbishop, to serve as their President."
"President Trump is fulfilling the mandate the American people gave him in November to turn his campaign promises – like no tax on tips, social security, and overtime – into law," she said. "The One, Big, Beautiful Bill will be one of the most successful pieces of legislation ever passed and will supercharge our economy to benefit all Americans."
In the same interview, McElroy also took aim at Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which received final passage by Congress on Thursday.
"There's something radically wrong with a society that takes from the poorest to give to the wealthiest," he told CNN. "It's just wrong."
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.