Archbishop Paul Coakley, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, warned that the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign is instilling “fear in a rather widespread manner” across the U.S. on Sunday.
Coakley, the archbishop of Oklahoma City, urged the Trump administration to “be generous in welcoming immigrants” while underlining, “We certainly have a right and a duty to respect borders of our nation.”
“This is kind of a fundamental principle in Catholic social teaching regarding immigration and migrations: People have a right to remain in their homeland, but they also ought to be allowed to migrate when conditions in their homeland are unsafe and necessitate moving to a place where they can find peace and security,” he said in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” with host Margaret Brennan.
Coakley — who was elected to a three-year term leading the conference last month — has frequently aligned with the church’s socially conservative faction, but he has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown along with other leaders in the church.
On the heels of Trump’s inauguration in January, Coakley issued a statement reiterating his view that “the majority of undocumented immigrants in Oklahoma are upstanding members of our communities and churches, not violent criminals.”
Coakley’s comments come less than a week after Pope Leo XIV named Bishop Ronald Hicks as the next archbishop of New York, replacing conservative Cardinal Timothy Dolan as the leader of the country’s second-largest Catholic diocese. Dolan, who was Trump’s pick to succeed Pope Francis, announced in February that he would resign upon turning 75, as required by Catholic law.
Hicks, who like Leo grew up in the Chicago area and spent several years as a missionary in Latin America, endorsed a special message from the bishops conference condemning the Trump administration’s immigration raids last month.
Coakley defended that message on Sunday, explaining that the bishops hoped to “reassure people” amid rising anxiety about the immigration crackdown.
“In communities with a more dense migrant population, there is a great deal of fear and uncertainty, anxiety because of the level of rhetoric that is often employed when addressing issues around migration and the threats of deportation,” he said.
Coakley said he had not yet met with Trump or Vice President JD Vance — who accused the church of prioritizing financial motives over humanitarian concerns after a leader of the bishops conference criticized the administration’s immigration policy — but said he looked forward to “engaging with them over matters of mutual concern.”
Since taking office in May, Leo has on several occasions challenged the Trump administration’s stance on high-profile issues, suggesting that those who support the “inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States” may not be “pro life” and warning against a U.S. military incursion in Venezuela.
In an interview with POLITICO earlier this month, Trump said he would be open to meeting with the pope, saying, “I’m sure he’s a lovely man” like his older brother, who has praised the president and met with Trump at the White House in May.
Coakley repeatedly said that immigration policy must be rooted in respect for human dignity, adding, “I don’t think we can ever say that the end justifies the means.”
“That’s kind of a foundational bedrock thing for us, that people are to be respected and treated with dignity, whether they are documented or undocumented, whether they are here legally or illegally, they don’t forfeit their human dignity,” he said.
