By Michael Haynes, Snr. Vatican Correspondent
Despite Pope Francis’ critique of Trump’s plans to secure the U.S. border, the Vatican City State recently enacted stringent border laws of its own… the new laws state that those who break into the Vatican City State territory unlawfully shall be handed a jail term of between one and five years, and a fine of €10,000 to €25,000.
President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan robustly rejected Pope Francis’ criticism of the administration’s border policies, saying the Pope “ought to fix the Catholic Church and concentrate on his work and leave border enforcement to us.”
Speaking to reporters outside the White House last night, Homan issued succinct comments on Pope Francis’ surprise letter sent yesterday to the U.S. bishops.
“I’ve got harsh words for the Pope. The Pope ought to fix the Catholic Church,” began Homan.
“I’m saying this as a lifelong Catholic: I was baptized Catholic, [had] 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,” added Homan.
Continuing, the border czar implied the Pope was hypocritical in his denunciation of the U.S. policy, saying “he wants to attack us securing our border? He has got 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.”
“I wish he’d stick to the Catholic Church and fix that and leave border enforcement to us,” Homan closed.
Homan’s comments came hours after the Vatican published an open letter from Pope Francis to the U.S. Catholic bishops.
Francis referred to the “major crisis” of the Trump administration’s policies regarding illegal immigrants, and rejected the notion that breaking U.S. border laws makes people criminals.
“The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality,” wrote Francis. “At the same time, one must recognize the right of a nation to defend itself and keep communities safe from those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or prior to arrival.”
Francis added that deporting individuals “damages the dignity of many men and women” if they left their native country for “reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment.”
He also rejected comments made by Vice President JD Vance about the “ordo amoris,” saying instead that an “infinite dignity” of man should motivate border policies to be more permissive, and formed on love that “builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”
Following Trump’s inauguration, the new administration announced steps to tackle the “border crisis” as numbers of illegal immigrants have swelled in the nation.
Trump’s White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that “all” of the illegal immigrants arrested by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) are criminals “because they illegally broke our nation’s laws, and therefore, they are criminals as far as this administration goes.”
Since then much of the mainstream narrative has presented Trump as enacting mass deportations and an ethnic cleansing of the U.S. in terms of his plans to remove illegal immigrants.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security stated February 3 that only 5,693 immigrants had been removed from the country since January 20. Reuters reports that since January 20, Mexico has received some 11,000 migrants back to the country and onwards to Honduras, as of February 7.
By contrast, Homeland Security data show that 4.7 million illegal immigrants were repatriated under the Biden administration’s years of 2021 through 2024. Conflicting data reports cloud the matter, with the Migration Policy Institute suggesting a lower figure, and that Biden matched Trump’s first term and deported around 1.5 million illegal migrants.
Homan’s office of U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s own 2024 report shows that enforcement and removal operations saw over 270,000 people repatriated in 2024, as ICE “removed more people without legal basis to remain in the United States than it did in any other fiscal year since 2015.”
While month-by-month data is unavailable before October 2013, total figures document that Obama saw 5.2 million deportations in his two terms, which was around half that of President George W. Bush and less than half of President Bill Clinton.
In contrast, monthly deportations under Biden far exceeded those made by Obama during his second term, suggesting that the invective directed against Trump’s deportation plans is not taking into account the historical record of his predecessors in the White House on the issue.
Somewhat little reported is that, despite Pope Francis’ critique of Trump’s plans to secure the U.S. border, the Vatican City State recently enacted stringent border laws of its own. Issued quietly late December 2024, the new laws state that those who break into the Vatican City State territory unlawfully shall be handed a jail term of between one and five years, and a fine of €10,000 to €25,000 ($10,300 to $25,800).
But if extenuating circumstances are involved and the perpetrator uses guns, vehicles, disguises, or is in a group, then the penalties are increased.
The Vatican City State is largely surrounded by the border wall, with the notable exception being, of course, St. Peter’s Basilica; however, even though the Basilica is readily accessible to tourists, entry is subject to security checks akin to those found at airports. Anyone attempting to bypass security at the border is swiftly ejected or taken into custody.
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