On Tuesday, Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s “border czar,” responded to criticism that Pope Francis shared for the Trump administration’s immigration policy, saying he should “fix the Catholic Church.”
“I’ve got harsh words for the Pope,” Homan shared with Newsmax in front of the White House. “Pope ought to fix the Catholic Church.”
Homan went on to say that he is a member of the Catholic Church but that the pope’s thoughts were not out of touch.
“I’m saying this as a lifelong Catholic — I was baptized Catholic, my first Communion as a Catholic, confirmation as a Catholic. He ought to fix the Catholic Church and concentrate on his work and leave border enforcement to us,” he continued.
He went on to point out that Vatican City, where the pope lives, is surrounded by walls.
“He wants to attack us securing our border? He has a wall around the Vatican, does he not? So he has a wall to protect his people and himself, but we can’t have a wall around the United States,” Homan said.
Homan added that he wished the pope would “stick to the Catholic Church and fix that and leave border enforcement to us.”
The remarks from Homan come after the pope wrote a letter on Monday criticizing the Trump administration for carrying out mass deportations and calling on the U.S. to treat migrants with dignity.
“The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness,” Francis wrote in the letter.
While the pope said that a nation has the right to “defend itself and keep communities safe,” he condemned the approach Trump’s team has taken. He also said that treating people with dignity “does not impede the development of a policy that regulates orderly and legal migration.”
“However, this development cannot come about through the privilege of some and the sacrifice of others,” Francis continued. “What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly.”
The White House has shared that more than 8,000 people have been arrested in immigration enforcement actions since Trump took office.