Tom Homan, the White House’s border policy chief, is calling on the Vatican to refrain from commenting on U.S. immigration, arguing that church officials lack a firsthand understanding of the issue.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Tuesday, Homan was initially asked about a now-deleted social media image shared by Donald Trump, but shifted the discussion to broader immigration concerns and recent remarks involving Pope Leo XIV.
Describing himself as a “lifelong Catholic,” Homan addressed criticism from the Vatican, stating, “I wish they’d stay out of immigration.”
Expanding on his position, he said, “They don’t know what they’re talking about because if they wore my shoes for 40 years and talked to a 9-year-old girl that got raped 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 happen on an open border, I think that their opinion would change.”
He added, “They don’t understand. Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime.”
Homan also credited the Trump administration’s border policies with saving lives, saying, “When President Trump had the most secure border in the lifetime of this nation, right now, lives are being saved.”
He continued, “He’s saving thousands of lives a year because he has a secure border. Human traffickers are out of business, right? The cartels are going bankrupt.”
Similar tensions were seen under Pope Francis, who had criticized earlier deportation efforts. In response at the time, Homan said, “I’ve got harsh words for the pope,” and raised the question, asking, “He’s got a wall around the Vatican does he not? So, he’s got a wall around to protect his people and himself, but we can’t have a wall around the United States?”
Although the Vatican has not recently issued statements on current U.S. immigration policy, Pope Leo XIV previously expressed concerns about mass deportations carried out under the administration.
During a Monday appearance on Fox & Friends, Vice President JD Vance acknowledged that “the Pope has been critical of our immigration policy,” while emphasizing that “ultimately, the immigration policy of the United States is set by Donald Trump.”
Vance also encouraged the Vatican to “stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of … what’s going on in the Catholic Church and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.”
