Catholic bishops linked to Trump admin accuse him of violating 'religious liberty'

President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Florida on July 1, 2025 (DHS photo by Tia Dufour/Flickr)

Two Catholic bishops who sit on and advise President Donald Trump's Religious Liberty Commission are now directly confronting the administration with concerns that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is violating the religious liberty of detained immigrants.

Religion News Service's Jack Jenkins reported Tuesday that Bishops Robert Barron (who Trump appointed to the commission) and Kevin Rhoades (an advisor to the commission) are now publicly speaking out against the DHS' treatment of migrants awaiting deportation. Barron oversees the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in the St. Paul-Minneapolis in Minnesota, and Rhoades oversees the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend in Indiana.

Rhoades said he was concerned that Catholic immigrants being detained by the DHS were being denied communion and other religious services that are protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Barron wrote on X that he had been "in touch with senior officials in both the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security and have brought forward the concerns of the Church regarding detainees’ access to Sacraments."

"It is important that our Catholic detainees are able to receive pastoral care and have access to the sacraments," Bishop Rhoades told Jenkins. "Their religious liberty, part of their human dignity, needs to be respected."

The bishops' comments come on the heels of a class-action lawsuit brought by detainees at the Broadview, Illinois immigrant detention center, with faith leaders saying that they had "provided religious services at Broadview for years but are now denied the ability to provide pastoral care under Defendants’ command." Jenkins noted that there were three documented instances of the DHS refusing to allow communion for detainees — including two efforts led by local Catholic clergy.

Treatment of immigrants remains a contentious issue driving a wedge between Trump and his Catholic supporters. Pope Leo XIV said last month that Catholic bishops should be "more forceful" in pushing back against the administration's attitude toward immigrants. The pontiff has also called on political leaders to respect the "human dignity" of people fleeing violence and instability in their home countries and seeking safe harbor elsewhere.

Earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order creating the National Commission on Religious Liberty, which he argued was necessary to fight "anti-Christian bias." Bishop Barron attended the official signing at the White House in May.

Click here to read Jenkins' full report.

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