Bishop condemns mass deportations

Published: September 22, 2025

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor released the following statement on mass deportations to be read Oct. 3, 2025, in front of the ICE administration building in Washington, D.C., during a Pax Christi vigil. The vigil will be part of Pax Christi USA’s national council meeting.

"So many troubles face our country at this moment, and it may feel as though divisions can be insurmountable. In the midst of all this, it can be easy to lose sight of those living in the shadows and peripheries of our society.

"And so, lest we forget, I write to share my spiritual closeness with our many immigrants who continue to live in fear within our very midst, even if we do not regularly see them. 

"I think we all recognize that the rights to due process can vary depending on the type of legal proceeding and the legal context. But even if the kind of due process may vary, some kind of due process should still be considered a fundamental human right — not merely a right extended to citizens or those with legal status.

"Sadly, with mass incarcerations and mass deportations, we have gone down the slippery slope of ignoring this fundamental human right at even its most basic level.

“As Catholics, we are called to stand up for the stranger in our midst as a sign of our faith. But this issue is deeper than simply a ‘Catholic issue.’ It is a human-rights issue. Our understanding of natural law tells us that each person, from the moment of conception, has inherent human dignity and thus certain unalienable rights.

"And when we ignore someone’s 'due process rights' at even the most basic level, we’re not just ignoring some amorphous rights to due process; we’re ignoring the inherent human dignity of the other, created in the image and likeness of our same Creator.  And we ignore this to our own peril.

"In the wake of so much violence in our country — directed towards churches and schools, towards politicians and political activists — I pray that we find ways to respect each other’s common dignity. That even amidst our deepest disagreements, we find ways to love and respect one another, rather than to attack one another.

"And one way we can do that is to start showing love and care for the stranger in our midst — to plead for the end to indiscriminate and mass deportations — and to recognize that each person is owed equal, unique, inherent, dignified treatment in the eyes of our one Creator.”

"Yours Sincerely in Christ,
+Anthony B. Taylor
Bishop of Little Rock"