Pope Francis has expressed his opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to continue with mass deportations of immigrants, stating that this policy represents a “great crisis” that “strikes at their dignity.”
The deportation of “individuals who, in many cases, have fled their country due to extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution, or severe environmental degradation, insults the dignity of many men and women,” emphasized Pope Francis in an open letter sent to U.S. bishops, which was made public by the Vatican.
The Pope calls on “all believers and all people of good will to consider whether these standards and policies are legitimate, in light of the dignity of the person and their fundamental rights.”
Although he describes the initiation of a mass deportation program as a “great crisis,” the Pope acknowledges “the right of a country to protect itself” against immigrants who have committed “serious crimes” in the United States or their country of origin.
