CatholicVote unveiled a new immigration report, offering Catholics a centralized resource to navigate Church teaching, U.S. policy, and the moral debates surrounding the nation’s border crisis.
The report, titled Immigration Enforcement and the Christian Conscience, argues that enforcing immigration law is not inherently immoral and that Catholic social teaching supports both compassion for migrants and prudent border control.
“A faithful Catholic approach to immigration begins not with politics but with people,” CatholicVote President and CEO Kelsey Reinhardt said. “Compassion, hospitality, and solidarity with the poor are not optional virtues. They are at the center of the Gospel. Yet mercy and justice travel together. One without the other distorts both.”
The publication builds on the CatholicVote Accountability Project’s earlier Bad Samaritans series, which documented how the Biden administration’s border policies were “appalling from the standpoint of both faith and reason.”
With President Donald Trump now in office, the report says the question before the faithful is clear: “What does Catholic teaching tell us about immigration law enforcement, especially on the controversial issue of large-scale deportations?”
The report follows a message from the U.S. bishops’ Fall Plenary Assembly condemning the current rhetoric on immigration and warning of a growing “climate of fear” among immigrant communities, CatholicVote previously reported. The bishops said they are “saddened” by the “vilification of immigrants” and stressed that defending human dignity remains essential even as nations retain a responsibility to regulate their borders.
“We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people,” the bishops said. “We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement. We pray that the Lord may guide the leaders of our nation, and we are grateful for past and present opportunities to dialogue with public and elected officials.”
As CatholicVote argued in its new report, weak border policies endanger migrants and citizens alike by encouraging deadly crossings, aiding cartels, and fueling humanitarian disorder. While the Catholic Church does not endorse specific policy mechanisms, the report adds, it offers clear moral principles and leaves their practical application to the prudential judgement of laypeople.
“Properly speaking, there is no such thing as an official ‘Catholic position’ on the practical details of immigration policy,” the report states. “Despite what some Church leaders in America have indicated, a faithful Catholic can support strong and humane immigration law enforcement — by means such as physical barriers, detention, and deportation — without violating the teaching of the Church.”
The report warns that policies often labeled “compassionate” can lead to devastating human costs, especially when they incentivize dangerous travel or strengthen criminal networks.
“Welcoming the stranger and safeguarding one’s own citizens are not contradictory but complementary duties rooted in justice,” Reinhardt said. “The Catholic Church is rightly lauded for its care of the poor. Catholic bishops, priests, laypersons, and institutions in the United States work unceasingly to ensure the dignity of every migrant is respected, with the conviction that each bears the face of Christ. That is undeniable.”
“Yet charity is never opposed to order,” Reinhardt added. “The Catechism of the Catholic Church is explicit: nations have the right — and rulers the duty — to regulate their borders prudently for the sake of the common good.”
The full report includes key excerpts from Church teaching and reflections designed to help Catholics engage the immigration debate with clarity and conviction.