There’s something about Christmas that makes everyone reach for the soft-focus lens, and this year is no different. This time, the appeal came from Florida’s Catholic bishops, who asked President Donald Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis to press pause on immigration enforcement for the holidays. Just for Christmas, they argued. A season of mercy. A moment of calm. A symbolic ceasefire in what they see as an overly aggressive crackdown. The White House listened politely, then responded with a very Washington version of “no.”
To be fair, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami didn’t exactly sneak this request in quietly. He put numbers on the table, pointing out that over half a million people have been deported this year and nearly two million more have voluntarily self-deported. He acknowledged that the border is now secured and that dangerous criminals have largely been identified and removed. That’s an interesting concession, considering how often we’re told enforcement never works. But then came the pivot: because the low-hanging fruit has been picked, enforcement now allegedly sweeps up people who are “just here to work,” including many with no criminal background, some of whom even have legal authorization that takes months to sort out.
From the bishops’ perspective, this creates fear, anxiety, and heartbreak during a sacred season. From the White House’s perspective, it creates a dilemma they already campaigned on. President Trump didn’t run on “seasonal enforcement.” He ran on restoring the rule of law, and voters put him back in office to do exactly that. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson summed it up bluntly: the president promised to deport criminal illegal aliens, and he’s keeping that promise. Christmas or not, the job continues.
Eight members of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, including leaders from the Diocese of St. Petersburg, have signed a letter urging the federal government to temporarily halt immigration enforcement during the Christmas season. https://t.co/g5QbFUaZI1
— FOX 13 Tampa Bay (@FOX13News) December 23, 2025
This is where the tension gets interesting, because it’s not a cartoon villain-versus-saint scenario. Wenski isn’t wrong when he says immigrants, including those here illegally, play major roles in agriculture, construction, health care, and service industries. Anyone who’s hired a contractor or eaten at a restaurant knows that reality. And he’s not alone. Catholic leaders across the country, backed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and even Pope Leo XIV, have been increasingly vocal, warning that mass deportations create a “climate of fear” and risk dehumanizing people made in the image of God.
But Republicans look at this and ask a different question: if not now, when? For years, enforcement was selectively ignored, borders were effectively open, and communities were told to accept chaos as compassion. Now that enforcement is finally happening, suddenly the timing is inconvenient. First it was “don’t enforce during COVID.” Then it was “don’t enforce during hurricane season.” Now it’s “don’t enforce during Christmas.” The calendar fills up quickly when the goal is delay.
Wenski’s comments about facilities like “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades also tug at the heartstrings. He’s prayed rosaries outside its walls, celebrated Mass inside, and emphasized dignity even in detention. That’s admirable pastoral work. But dignity and law enforcement are not mutually exclusive, no matter how often critics frame them that way. Detention is not the same as cruelty, and enforcement is not the same as hatred, despite the rhetoric suggesting otherwise.
The bishops’ broader criticism of Trump’s immigration agenda, echoed in their special message endorsed by Pope Leo XIV, goes even further, linking enforcement to “vilification” and implying that supporters of strict immigration policies may not be truly pro-life. That’s a serious charge, and one that conveniently ignores the millions of Americans who believe that borders, laws, and sovereignty are themselves moral goods. You can believe in compassion and still believe a nation has the right, and obligation, to decide who enters and who stays.
The voters have already weighed the arguments and made a choice. Immigration enforcement isn’t a surprise policy sprung on an unsuspecting public; it’s a mandate delivered at the ballot box.
If I had to summarize the first year of President Trump’s second term in one word, it would be: dignity. From his foreign policy to his domestic policy to his immigration policy, the goal has been restoring the dignity of the forgotten working-class men & women of this country. pic.twitter.com/SKd6Ad7Zqu
— Batya Ungar-Sargon (@bungarsargon) December 21, 2025
So yes, the Christmas appeal sounds nice. It feels humane. It photographs well. But the White House’s refusal to pause enforcement sends a different message, one that many Republicans believe is long overdue: the law doesn’t take holidays, and neither does the responsibility to enforce it. Compassion, in this view, isn’t about selective amnesia for a few weeks in December. It’s about fixing a broken system without pretending it isn’t broken every time the calendar turns festive.
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