Vice President JD Vance fired back at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops over its denunciation of the Trump administration rule change allowing ICE raids in churches and schools.
Last week, the religious group slammed the move for “turning places of care, healing, and solace into places of fear and uncertainty for those in need” and warned that it endangers “the trust between pastors” and “the people they serve.”
“As a practicing Catholic, I was actually heartbroken by that statement,” Vance, 40, told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” in an interview that aired Sunday.
“I think that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants. Are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line?” he asked.
“If they’re worried about the humanitarian costs of immigration enforcement, let them talk about the children who have been sex trafficked because of the wide open border of Joe Biden,” he added of the Catholic group.
Moderator Margaret Brennan pressed Vance about whether the US Conference of Catholic Bishops is “actively hiding criminals from law enforcement,” but the vice president was evasive.
“I think the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has, frankly, not been a good partner in common sense immigration enforcement that the American people voted for, and I hope, again, as a devout Catholic, that they’ll do better,” he explained.
Brennan also pressed Vance about whether the hardline immigration policy would have a chilling effect that could make parents reluctant to send their children to school.
“I desperately hope it has a chilling effect,” he shot back, “on illegal immigrants coming into our country.”
Vance had been baptized a Catholic in 2019 after having been an evangelical protestant. Tech billionaire Pete Thiel was reportedly influential in Vance’s decision to convert.
President Trump, who had grown up Presbyterian and now considers himself to be a nondenominational Christian, has previously clashed with leadership in the Catholic Church, including Pope Francis.
Francis recently blasted Trump’s mass deportation plans as a “disgrace.” First lady Melania Trump is a Catholic.
Last week, Trump and Vance were lectured at the inaugural prayer service by Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, DC. Budde begged the president to have “mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” including transgender people.
Vance, in his CBS interview, also asserted that the administration has “empowered law enforcement to enforce the law everywhere, to protect Americans.”
“This is a very unique country, and it was founded by some immigrants and some settlers. But just because we were founded by immigrants, doesn’t mean that 240 years later that we have to have the dumbest immigration policy in the world,” he stressed.
The vice president also defended Trump’s move to suspend the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, with a few carveouts, while his administration studies the issue.
Brennan argued that refugees are “heavily vetted” and often take 18 to 24 months to get through.
“I don’t agree that all these immigrants, or all these refugees, have been properly vetted. In fact, we know that there are cases of people who allegedly were properly vetted and then were literally planning terrorist attacks in our country,” Vance countered.
“We absolutely cannot unleash thousands of unvetted people into our country,” he added. “I don’t want my children to share a neighborhood with people who are not properly vetted.”
Vance’s wide-ranging interview with “Face the Nation” marks his first major televised sitdown interview since being sworn in as vice president.
