While 56% of Christian voters supported Trump in the 2024 election, playing a key role in sending him back to the White House, religious leaders such as the Holy See’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, have condemned Trump’s deportation policies.

“This is one of the fundamental points of the Holy See: no deportation,” Cardinal Parolin said last month. 

The claim that deportation is against Christian charity stems from a misapplication of charity and a misunderstanding of Catholic social teaching. It assumes that charitably “willing the good of the other” and upholding the dignity of the human person mean allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S. 

Christian charity, however, also requires preserving the security of the American people by upholding the legal immigration system, and in turn protecting hardworking, law-abiding migrants who seek a better life in America. Understood correctly, Catholic social teaching guides Christians in structuring a society with charity and justice. 

The crux of the issue rests on whether, in upholding each person’s dignity, Catholic social teaching ensures each person’s best life or comfort. The Catholic principle of solidarity does not mandate favoring those with challenging circumstances in all government decisions, but rather upholds man’s obligation to “commit oneself to the common good; that is to say, to the good of all and of each individual.” 

The Christian politician must simultaneously consider the welfare of the illegal immigrant and of his own child while pursuing what is best for the American people. While it seems impossible to balance these conflicting interests, the Catholic Church suggests there is an order to Christian charity.

In a Jan. 29 interview with Fox News, Vice President J.D. Vance referred to the principle of ordo amoris, which states there is a hierarchy in Christian charity. Christians should prioritize loving those who are relationally or physically most proximate. Vance referenced Thomas Aquinas’s idea that “we ought to be most beneficent towards those who are most closely connected with us” to argue that this principle upholds America’s obligation to care for her people before foreigners, justifying deportation.

By allowing a mass of people to evade the law and destroy the country, America neglects her primary duty to defend her own people and government. Our nation is permitting a quiet invasion of illegal immigrants, some of whom spark conflict in our cities. We do not let this happen in other countries. While we send billions of dollars to Ukraine and Israel to help them protect their nations and their peoples from invasion, we sit by and allow our own nation to deteriorate.

While it is the duty of nations to welcome foreigners, clothe the naked, and shelter the homeless, the Catechism of the Catholic Church also states, “Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.” Illegal immigration indicates a contempt for American law and a direct refusal of civic duties.

Deportation upholds the good of America in charity. Homicide, rape, and theft are clearly detrimental to the welfare of our country and must be stopped. Even if illegal immigrants do not commit these more egregious crimes, they have already broken the law by their illegal entry and must not be permitted to disregard the authority of the state.

Although it may seem like a harsh measure to tear families away from the American dream and bus them back across the border, deportation is only the appropriate response to the injustice committed in illegally entering a country.

Deporting illegal immigrants upholds the American legislature and government and affirms that our nation is governed with authority. It protects the American people — including our millions of legal immigrants — from harm and allows them the right to live securely. Deportation is the uncomfortable point at which loving one’s neighbor involves maintaining boundaries and defending the principles of law.

 

Francesca Cella is a sophomore studying English.