DC-Area Bishop: Catholic Church Teaching Does Not Support ‘An Open Border Policy’

As left-leaning Catholic clergy criticize President Donald Trump’s border policies, a church leader from just outside the nation’s capital is stressing that the religion certainly would support a “common sense” approach to immigration.

Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, located right across the river from Washington, D.C., issued a statement reminding the public that the Catholic Church does not support open borders but rather “a common sense approach where the duty to care for the stranger is practiced in harmony with the duty to care for the nation.”

Burbidge’s statement came as Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), suggested that some of the Trump administration’s policies on immigration “are deeply troubling and will have negative consequences,” prompting Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, to describe himself as “heartbroken” by the USCCB’s response to the efforts to stem the border crisis.

Burbidge’s statement draws on Catholic teaching on the importance of sheltering migrants, emphasizing in his statement that “the Church teaches, as does our Constitution, that a political community exists to protect the family and human dignity. We always defend and protect the most vulnerable, even as we defend the rights and duties of nations to govern themselves and to safeguard the common good.”

But he also pointed out the two-fold premise that this rests on: “to uphold human dignity and the common good.”

“As principles of Catholic social teaching, human dignity and the common good must not be brought into conflict,” he wrote. “As Catholics, we understand the common good as inclusive of the individual good of each and every member of society. We also understand that the rule of law is to defend and promote the common good. For this reason, I have confidence that comprehensive immigration reform need not harm the dignity of any person. Even when immigration reform includes repatriation of those persons who have committed violent crimes, or who otherwise violate the terms of a right to remain, human dignity can be respected. We must not presume a conflict between human dignity and the rule of law.”

READ MORE: Why Leftist Catholics Are At Odds With Church’s Long-Standing View On Immigration

Burbidge acknowledged that there are many immigrants in the Diocese of Arlington who “contribute so much to our Church and to our country,” immigrants from countries including Afghanistan, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Mexico, Gambia, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, Vietnam, and Venezuela who have “enriched our diocese with their great faith, their devotion to our Lord, their families, and their service to Christ’s Church.”

He specifically asked those responsible for law enforcement not to enter “our sacred spaces,” meaning churches, unless “absolutely and unequivocally necessary to ensure the safety of all persons.”

Significantly, Burbidge also emphasized that “as a consequence of our respect for the common good, the Church has always shown the greatest concern for all that is right and just.”

“We implore all leaders to strive to keep our nation safe for the sake of thriving and healthy families, including migrant families,” Burbidge wrote. “Sadly, some of those who have entered our country, legally or illegally, have committed serious crimes. There must be consequences for such behavior, as there is no place for violence, trafficking, or gang activity in our society. Our laws exist to safeguard the good of all, and they must be respected.”

“We therefore also recognize all those law enforcement officers, including many immigrants and children of immigrants, who work diligently to uphold our laws and protect our communities, often at great risk to themselves,” Burbidge continued. “They deserve and receive our prayers. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church emphasizes, Catholic teaching does not support an open border policy, but rather emphasizes a common sense approach where the duty to care for the stranger is practiced in harmony with the duty to care for the nation.”

Burbidge encouraged Trump and congressional leaders to “develop a national immigration policy that reflects the Catholic commitment to human dignity and the common good.”

“Americans earnestly look to our elected officials for a humane and peaceful immigration policy that is just, compassionate, and restores confidence in the rule of law,” he wrote. “American law must always include pathways for legal entry and as citizens we should always celebrate the contributions of immigrants, ensure the protection of the vulnerable, and uphold the common good which is the condition for ordered liberty and public safety.”

Burbidge’s nuanced approach to the topic may draw fire from more left-leaning clergy. The Catholic view on illegal immigration is a topic that politicians on both sides of the aisle have long struggled with. But over the past century, leaders of the Church have frequently pointed out that migration cannot be unrestricted, and must be handled with prudence.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church specifically notes that “more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find his country of origin.” But it also states that “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.”

And while figures like the new Archbishop of D.C., Cardinal McElroy, have said that “indiscriminate” mass deportations are incompatible with Catholic teaching, Trump’s Border czar Tom Homan told The Daily Wire this week that the administration’s actions are anything but indiscriminate.

Homan’s job is to enact Trump’s executive orders: to protect the American people from the invasion at the southern border and to “execute the immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens, particularly those aliens who threaten the safety or security of the American people.”

“We have a targeted enforcement sheet,” Homan told The Daily Wire, “we go out into the field and we know exactly who we are going to arrest, and pretty much where we are going to find them. This is far from indiscriminate arrests, these are targeted enforcement operations, concentrating on the worst of the worst.”