Florida’s Catholic bishops Monday called on Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump to pause immigration-enforcement efforts during the Christmas holiday season.
“While enforcement will always be part of any immigration policy, such enforcement can be carried out in a way that recognizes due process as well as the humanity and dignity of all affected including those carrying out those policies,” the bishops said in a statement. “A pause during this holy season can lower the temperature within our partisan divisions, ease the fear and anxiety present in many of our immigrant and even non-immigrant families and allow all of us to celebrate with greater joy the advent of the Prince of Peace.”
The statement came after Pope Leo XIV and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops last month criticized the treatment of immigrants amid mass deportation efforts. In Florida, that has included the state operating a detention center in the Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”
In the statement Monday, the Florida bishops said that, at this point, “arrest operations inevitably sweep up numbers of people who are not criminals but just here to work. It should be noted that a significant majority of those detained in Alligator Alcatraz have no criminal background. Sometimes, these roundups include those with legal authorization to be here. Eventually these cases may be resolved, but this takes many months causing great sorrow for their families. A growing majority of Americans say the harsh enforcement policies are going too far. 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.”
The statement said 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.”