Archbishop Paul Coakley urged the Trump administration to "be generous in welcoming immigrants." (Getty Images)
"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 added.
Coakley, although frequently aligned with the church’s social conservatives, has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Coakley is one of many Catholic leaders who have been criticizing Trump's mass deportation plan, as fear of immigration raids has slashed Mass attendance at some parishes.
After Trump returned to the White House in January, Coakley issued a statement reaffirming that "the majority of undocumented immigrants in Oklahoma are upstanding members of our communities and churches, not violent criminals."
Last month, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted a "special message" in which they slammed Trump's mass deportation agenda and the "vilification" of migrants, expressing concern over the fear and anxiety immigration raids are stoking in communities, as well as the denial of pastoral care to migrants in detention centers.
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Archbishop Paul Coakley has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP/Getty Images)
Coakley defended the special message on Sunday, saying the bishops sought to "reassure people" amid increasing anxiety about the immigration sweeps in cities across the country.
"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.
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Coakley said that immigration policy must include respect for human dignity, stressing: "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 on Sunday.
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