The press secretary for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is accusing Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski of lying about an executive order targeting shelters housing unaccompanied migrant youths.
"Lying is a sin," Christina Pushaw tweeted.
The Twitter post included a tweet from the American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC) showing a photo of the archbishop and a quote from him from a Feb. 10 press conference, The Miami Herald noted. "This is a new law," he reportedly said. "Children are children, and no child should be deemed disgusting, especially by a public servant."
The newspaper noted that the ABIC is an organization made up of pro-immigration reform businesses.
Pushaw tweeted again on Monday and emphasized that she was referring to the archbishop.
"I pointed out that he lied about what @GovRonDeSantis said…"
And she followed with another tweet: "Before the Miami Herald and other activist groups try to say I am anti-Catholic (add it to the list of epithets about me) I should note that I am Catholic myself and have no antipathy toward any religion. Catholics do not have to support illegal immigration or human smuggling."
According to the Herald, Wenski's remarks referred to a Feb. 7 round-table discussion in which the governor said it was "disgusting" to compare a 1960s relocation of thousands of Cuban minors to South Florida, to the resettlement of unaccompanied youths under President Joe Biden's administration.
The Catholic News Service (CNS) said ads by American Business Immigration Coalition Action quote Wenski claiming that the governor called immigrant children "disgusting."
CNS said DeSantis signed an executive order in December barring state regulators from issuing licenses to shelters housing unaccompanied minors in partnership with the Biden administration.
The news service said the Archdiocese of Miami declined comment, saying any communication involving the governor and archbishop would be conducted between them, not through the media.