Trump adviser defends border policy amid papal critique
The Pope should focus on the Catholic Church, and we should concentrate on protecting our borders, said Tom Homan, Donald Trump's chief adviser on migration policy, on Tuesday in response to Pope Francis's criticism regarding the deportation of migrants from the United States.
"I wish he'd stick to the Catholic Church and fix that and leave border enforcement to us. He wants to attack us for securing our border? He's got a wall around the Vatican, does he not?... We can't have a wall around the United States," said Tom Homan during a brief briefing at the White House.
Earlier on Tuesday, Pope Francis, in a letter to the bishops of the United States, strongly criticised the immigration policy of US President Donald Trump. In the message announced on Tuesday, the Pope emphasised that this cannot be accepted.
"I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations. The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality," wrote Pope Francis.
The Pope also warned that "what is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly".
