By Kate Scanlon
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The Trump administration said Jan. 21 it would rescind a long-standing policy preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests at what are seen as sensitive locations, including houses of worship, schools and hospitals.

Prior to his second inauguration, Trump’s transition team indicated his administration would scrap the long-standing ICE policy – which prohibits immigration enforcement arrests at such locations, as well as other sensitive events like weddings and funerals without approval from supervisors. Catholic immigration advocates expressed alarm at the announcement.

Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman directed on Jan. 20 that those guidelines be rescinded, as well as issuing another directive restricting parameters for humanitarian parole, a DHS spokesperson said.

“This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens – including murders and rapists – who have illegally come into our country,” a DHS spokesperson said. “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”

Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, said in a Jan. 21 statement the policy change is one of “many drastic actions from the federal government related to immigration that deeply affect our local community and raise urgent moral and human concerns.”

“The end of the Department of Homeland Security’s sensitive locations policy strikes fear into the heart of our community, cynically layering a blanket of anxiety on families when they are worshiping God, seeking healthcare and dropping off and picking up children at school,” Bishop Seitz said. “We have also seen the rapid and indiscriminate closure of the border to asylum seekers and the return of the ill-conceived Remain in Mexico policy, violating due process and restricting the few legal options available to the most vulnerable who knock on our door seeking compassion and aid.”

Bishop Seitz added that he wanted to assure El Paso’s immigrant community that “whatever your faith and wherever you come from, we make your anxieties and fears at this moment our own.”

“We stand with you in this moment of family and personal crisis and pledge to you our solidarity, trusting that the Lord, Jesus Christ, will bring about good even from this moment of pain, and that this time of trial will be just a prelude to real reform, a reconciled society and justice for all those who are forced to migrate,” he said.

The Diocese of El Paso, Bishop Seitz added, “will continue to educate our faithful on their rights, provide legal services and work with our community leaders to mitigate the damage of indiscriminate immigration enforcement. Through our Border Refugee Assistance Fund, in partnership with the Hope Border Institute, we are preparing to channel additional humanitarian aid to migrants stranded in our sister city of Ciudad Juarez.”

Dylan Corbett, executive director of Hope Border Institute, told OSV News, “The reversal of the sensitive locations policy is gravely troubling and will have an immediate impact on families in our parishes as well as on our Catholic educational institutions and service organizations.”

“It is an attack on members of our community at pivotal moments in their life – dropping off and picking up children, seeking out health care and worshipping God,” he said. “There are serious religious liberty implications and it strikes at the core of the trust that is indispensable to a safe community. It is also a sad and troubling step in the direction of indiscriminate deportations.”

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who has also taken hardline immigration positions, is Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, but she has not yet been confirmed by the Senate.

(Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.)

By Kate Scanlon
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on issues including migration, the environment and the death penalty are “deeply troubling,” Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a Jan. 22 statement, while praising another on gender policy.

Among the first acts of his second term beginning Jan. 20, Trump signed a slew of executive orders. Some implement his hardline policies on immigration, including seeking to change the interpretation of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment, an order that prompted a legal challenge.
Others include withdrawing from the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate and another sought to expand the use of the federal death penalty. Trump also signed an order directing the U.S. government to only recognize two sexes, male and female.

Archbishop Broglio, who heads the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, said many of the topics that the first batch of executive orders concern “are matters on which the Church has much to offer.”

“Some provisions contained in the Executive Orders, such as those focused on the treatment of immigrants and refugees, foreign aid, expansion of the death penalty, and the environment, are deeply troubling and will have negative consequences, many of which will harm the most vulnerable among us,” he said. “Other provisions in the Executive Orders can be seen in a more positive light, such as recognizing the truth about each human person as male or female.”

Archbishop Broglio stressed that neither the Catholic Church nor the USCCB is “aligned with any political party.”

“No matter who occupies the White House or holds the majority on Capitol Hill, the Church’s teachings remain unchanged,” he said. “It is our hope that the leadership of our Country will reconsider those actions which disregard not only the human dignity of a few, but of us all.”
Executive orders are legally binding directives from the president and are published in the Federal Register. At the same time, the term “executive actions” is broader and may include informal proposals for policy the president would like to see enacted. While it is typical for new presidents to issue some executive orders on their first day in office to signal certain priorities, Trump signed a larger number of orders than usual.

Citing the current Jubilee Year of Hope declared by Pope Francis, Archbishop Broglio said, “As Christians, our hope is always in Jesus Christ, who guides us through storm and calm weather.

“He is the source of all truth,” Archbishop Broglio said. “Our prayer is one of hope that, as a Nation blessed with many gifts, our actions demonstrate a genuine care for our most vulnerable sisters and brothers, including the unborn, the poor, the elderly and infirm, and migrants and refugees. The just Judge expects nothing less.”

Also among its first actions, the Trump administration said Jan. 21 it would rescind a long-standing policy preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests at what are seen as sensitive locations, including houses of worship, schools and hospitals.

Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, said in a Jan. 21 statement the policy change is one of “many drastic actions from the federal government related to immigration that deeply affect our local community and raise urgent moral and human concerns.”

Bishop Seitz, who heads the USCCB’s migration committee, told reporters at the bishops’ general assembly in November that the bishops would watch how Trump’s migration policy actually unfolds and “raise our voice loudly” if those policies violate basic human rights protections.

(Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.)

By Gina Christian and Kate Scanlon
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Catholic bishops and immigration advocates are expressing numerous concerns over a flurry of executive orders issued by newly inaugurated President Donald Trump – including one that ordered the State Department’s cancellation of all refugee travel to the U.S. by Jan. 27.

Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, chair of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ migration committee, said in a Jan. 22 statement Trump’s order was “unmerited” saying refugee resettlement is “one of the most secure legal pathways to the United States.”

He said that “national self-interest does not justify policies with consequences that are contrary to the moral law.”

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, said in a statement that Trump’s executive orders on the migrants and refugees were among those the bishops found “deeply troubling.”

Kevin Appleby, senior fellow for policy and communications at the Center for Migration Studies of New York, said the U.S. “has successfully resettled refugees in the U.S. over the decades without a security breach.”

Appleby said that “to shut the door on refugee families who have already been processed, vetted, and prepared to travel is the height of cruelty.”

“The program has successfully resettled refugees in the U.S. over the decades without a security breach,” said Appleby. “There is no justified reason to halt it, other than to serve an anti-immigrant agenda.”

By Maria Wiering
LOS ANGELES (OSV News) – Four days after Corpus Christi Church was incinerated in the Palisades Fire, Capt. Bryan Nassour of the Los Angeles Fire Department picked his way over a 6-foot layer of rubble in the ashen bones of the sanctuary and recovered the tabernacle Jan. 11.
“I did it because the whole community has been decimated – it looks like a nuclear bomb has gone off and nothing is standing,” Nassour told Angelus, the news outlet of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Nassour’s family belongs to St. Francis de Sales Church in Sherman Oaks, and his brother belongs to Corpus Christi.

“My brother lost his home. I have close friends who lost everything but the shirts on their backs, and they belong to that church too. So, if I could save just one thing, let it be this, so they have something to believe in,” he said.

That Saturday morning Nassour, whose station in Pacific Palisades is across the street from Corpus Christi, had been up all night battling other fires. As he sipped coffee at his desk and gazed at the ruined church, he decided to check for valuables. He wanted to protect them from looters and perhaps return something meaningful to the parish.

Scorched bricks, tiles and hunks of debris filled the nave so high that he had to crawl under the top of door frames that no longer had doors. The roof had collapsed, a burned steel frame teetered above the twisted remains of a chandelier. The pews had been consumed. Only the granite altar remained, with the solid brass tabernacle atop it and a cross above. The Blessed Sacrament was intact.

Nassour was astounded to find that the tabernacle weighed more than 300 lbs. His crew helped him get it into the station house.

“It was one of the most uplifting things,” he said. “Not everyone is religious, but they saw that and they’re like, ‘This is awesome.’ We’re doing something – at least one thing – that we can salvage for the community.”

He made many calls before he was able to reach Msgr. Liam Kidney of Corpus Christi to tell him that the tabernacle was safe and undamaged.

“He was in utter disbelief,” Nassour said.

Nassour offered to search for other sacred objects and the priest told him where to find the chalices and patens. Firefighters from Station 69 helped dig for the crushed cabinet. The chalices and patens had been severely damaged. But the firefighters recovered other sacred objects, including three unbroken containers of holy oil.

Brass withstands high heat, but Nassour suspects more was involved in the tabernacle’s survival.
“Talk to any firefighter. In any religious building what usually survives is the cross and certain specific items that are highly religious, unless they’ve been specifically set on fire,” he said.

Gabe Sanchez, a retired FBI special agent who does contract investigations for the Los Angeles Archdiocese, was sent to retrieve the tabernacle. Firefighters helped him wrestle it into his car. He drove it to St. Monica Church, where Msgr. Kidney celebrated Mass for survivors the next day.

At that Mass, the tabernacle stood on a table by the altar. Msgr. Kidney recounted Nassour calling him to ask, “I have found this big gold box. What would you like me to do with it?”

The Corpus Christi parishioners burst into applause.

Nassour was unable to attend because he was fighting fires.

(Ann Rodgers writes for Angelus, the news outlet of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.)