Catholic Commentary Opposes Tennessee Anti-Immigrant Bills, Citing U.S. Bishops and Pope Leo

A Catholic writer has publicly opposed anti-immigrant legislation under consideration by the Tennessee General Assembly, saying the writer felt compelled to speak out as a Catholic. The commentary, published by the Tennessee Lookout, frames its opposition around statements from Catholic leaders.

The writer cited a position taken by U.S. Catholic bishops at their plenary session last November. The bishops said they “oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people” and prayed for an end to “dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement.” They also said they would continue to advocate for “meaningful immigration reform” through dialogue with public and elected officials. The writer said this statement was the spirit in which the commentary was addressed to lawmakers.

The writer also quoted a January 2025 statement from the Catholic bishops of Tennessee and Kentucky, who pledged that the Church in both states would “continue to accompany and serve migrants with every possible resource” and would advocate for their “just treatment and dignity” in line with Catholic Social Teaching.

The commentary describes several bills. It says one sponsor stated that a bill would “make it illegal to be illegal,” and the writer argued that this offered no reason other than to label others as different. The writer said another bill’s sponsor engaged in exaggeration of immigrants’ criminality, and that, to be less charitable, the sponsor spread falsehoods. These characterizations are the writer’s own opinions. A third lawmaker, the writer reported, proposed requiring public schools, hospitals and universities to report services provided to noncitizens, presenting this as good stewardship of public funds. The writer answered that accounting of this kind should also consider how people are treated, pointing to the parable of the Good Samaritan as a societal as well as personal accounting.

The writer cited a Nashville Banner article reviewing a May “traffic dragnet” in Nashville. According to the writer, the event and the proposed bills did not amount to enforcing the nation’s immigration laws and instead spread fear in the community.

The commentary also quotes Pope Francis, who wrote to all U.S. bishops last February. He described the Exodus narrative as an invitation to affirm “the infinite and transcendent dignity of every human person.” He said he had followed closely the mass deportation program in the United States and that a rightly formed conscience “cannot fail to make a critical judgment” of any measure that “tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.” He also acknowledged “the right of a nation to defend itself and keep communities safe” from those who have committed violent or serious crimes. He added that deporting people who had left their homelands because of poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or environmental deterioration “damages the dignity” of individuals and families and places them “in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.”

Finally, the writer quoted Pope Leo, who spoke last November about the U.S. bishops’ statement. He said he would like “all Catholics—and also people of good will—to listen carefully to what they have said,” adding, “I believe we must seek ways of treating people with humanity, with the dignity that is theirs.”

Source: Read the original report