President Trump and Pope Leo XIV are escalating a rare public clash between the White House and the Vatican over the Popes decision to wade into U.S. domestic policy.
According to Gateway Pundit, President Trump has sharply criticized the Pontiff as weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy after the Pope repeatedly condemned the administrations hardline stance on illegal immigration and its posture toward Iran. The Vaticans interventions have drawn particular ire from conservatives who argue that a European cleric should not be lecturing Americans on border security while enjoying the protection of Vatican walls.
Speaking outside the White House, Border Czar Tom Holman, a lifelong Catholic, said bluntly that Rome is out of its depth on immigration policy. Im not going to speak for the President, Im speaking for myself, a lifelong Catholic, Holman told reporters. I wish theyd stay out of immigration. They dont know what theyre talking about.
Holman invoked his decades on the front lines of border enforcement to challenge the moral posturing coming from the Vatican. Because if they wore my shoes for 40 years, and talked to a 9-year-old girl that got r*ped multiple times, or stood in the back of a tractor-trailer with 19 dead aliens at my feet, including a 5-year-old boy that baked to death, if they understood the atrocities that happened on the open border, I think their opinion would change!
He stressed that illegal immigration is not some abstract humanitarian talking point but a brutal reality fueled by cartels and smugglers. And I welcome discussion with any of them, because they dont understand illegal immigration is not a victimless crime.
Holman contrasted the current crisis with what he described as the success of Trump-era enforcement. Where President Trump had the most secure border in the lifetime of this nation, right now, lives are being saved. Hes saving thousands of lives a year because he has a secure border.
Human traffickers are out of business, right? he said, arguing that strong borders cripple criminal networks that profit from human misery. The cartels are going bankrupt because of that secure border.
I wish theyd understand that, Holman added, urging church leaders to grapple with the real-world consequences of open-border rhetoric rather than indulging in distant moralizing. Because if they did, I think theyd have a different opinion.
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