The archbishop of Miami, Thomas Wenski, raises his hand while addressing a crowd during a panel on immigration at Georgetown University in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (AP)
He noted that migrant sweeps sometimes include people with legal authorization to be in the U.S. and that surveys show Americans believe immigration enforcement operations are going too far.
"Eventually these cases may be resolved, but this takes many months causing great sorrow for their families … A climate of fear and anxiety is infecting not only the irregular migrant but also family members and neighbors who are legally in the country," Wenski said.
"Since these effects are part of enforcement operations, we request that the government pause apprehension and round-up activities during the Christmas season," he said. "Such a pause would show a decent regard for the humanity of these families. Now is not the time to be callous toward the suffering caused by immigration enforcement."
The White House did not directly address the appeal for a holiday pause, but did say that enforcement activities would be business as usual.
"President Trump was elected based on his promise to the American people to deport criminal illegal aliens. And he’s keeping that promise," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement to The Associated Press.
Wenski, like many other Catholic leaders, has been an outspoken advocate for treating illegal immigrants humanely.
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Pope Leo XIV has urged local bishops to speak out on social justice concerns. (Grzegorz Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
The special message was endorsed by Pope Leo XIV and Bishop Ronald Hicks, who the pontiff recently named as the next archbishop of New York, replacing conservative Cardinal Timothy Dolan as the leader of the country’s second-largest Catholic diocese. Dolan announced earlier this year he would resign upon turning 75, which is required by Catholic law.
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"I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have," Leo said last month. "If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts, there’s a system of justice."
The pope has previously urged local bishops to speak out on social justice concerns and has suggested that people who support the "inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States" may not be pro-life.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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