Border Czar clash at hearing

Tom Homan used a White House press gaggle on April 14 to tell Catholic leaders to “stay out of immigration,” widening a public fight between the Trump administration and Pope Leo XIV. (c-span.org) Homan said he was speaking “for myself, a lifelong Catholic” when he argued that church leaders “don’t know what they’re talking about” on border policy. He said tougher enforcement had cut crossings by “97 percent,” though he did not provide evidence in the exchange. (thehill.com) The clip spread after C‑SPAN posted video from the April 14 White House driveway briefing, where Homan also discussed Immigration and Customs Enforcement funding, city deployments and work with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. (archive.org) The exchange landed two days after President Donald Trump attacked Pope Leo in a Truth Social post, calling the first American-born pontiff “WEAK on Crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy.” Reuters reported that Trump’s post followed the pope’s criticism of both the Iran war and the administration’s immigration policies. (usnews.com) Pope Leo answered on April 13 during a papal flight to Algiers, telling Reuters he had “no fear” of the Trump administration and would keep speaking against war and for dialogue. Reuters also noted that it is highly unusual for a pope to answer a foreign leader so directly in public. (usnews.com) The immigration piece of the dispute did not start this week. The Hill reported that Leo had previously called U.S. treatment of immigrants “inhuman” and “extremely disrespectful,” putting him at odds with the administration’s crackdown well before Trump’s latest broadside. (thehill.com) Other Catholic leaders in the United States have also criticized enforcement tactics. In November 2025, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a message saying they were “disturbed” by “a climate of fear and anxiety” around profiling and immigration enforcement. (usccb.org) Homan’s side of the argument has been consistent as well. In a January 29 White House release about operations in Minnesota, he said Immigration and Customs Enforcement would prioritize “criminal aliens, public safety threats, and national security threats,” while adding that anyone in the country illegally was “never off the table.” (whitehouse.gov) Vice President JD Vance also moved to narrow the dispute on April 14, saying it would be best for the Vatican to focus on “matters of morality” and let the president handle American policy. House Speaker Mike Johnson separately said he told Trump to remove an artificial-intelligence image depicting himself as Jesus, and Trump agreed. (thehill.com) By Tuesday evening, the fight had settled into a clear split: Homan defended the administration’s enforcement agenda at the White House, and Pope Leo said from abroad that he would keep speaking anyway. (c-span.org)