Paul Coakley, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), said Sunday that the Trump administration\u2019s mass deportations are invoking fear in immigrant communities across the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s instilling, as I said, fear in a rather widespread manner. So I think that\u2019s something that concerns us all, that people have a right to live in security and without fear of random deportations,\u201d Coakley told host Margaret Brennan\u2002<\/u><\/a>on CBS News\u2019s \u201cFace the Nation<\/u><\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last month, the USCCB rebuked the administration\u2019s immigration enforcement<\/u><\/a> campaign, saying they were<\/u><\/a> \u201cdisturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care,\u201d the bishops noted. \u201cWe lament that some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pope Leo XIV,<\/u><\/a> who previously called on<\/u><\/a> American bishops to express their concerns with the administration\u2019s crackdown on migrants, said days later that their message was \u201cvery important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pope also noted<\/u><\/a> that while there are \u201cproblems\u201d within the U.S. immigration system and he is not in favor of the country having \u201copen borders,\u201d the administration is treating migrants \u2014 including those who have been in America for many years \u2014 in a \u201ctroubling\u201d manner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On Oct. 27, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that more than<\/u><\/a> 527,000 migrants without legal status had been removed from the U.S. since President Trump\u2002<\/u><\/a>returned to office. DHS added that roughly 1.6 million migrants without legal status have left the country voluntarily since Jan. 20. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The administration has ramped up immigration enforcement in cities across the country, including Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; and Charlotte, N.C. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Coakley, the archbishop of Oklahoma City, said Sunday that while the country has a \u201cright and a duty to respect borders of our nation,\u201d Catholic social teaching and U.S. tradition calls for respecting and welcoming migrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere is no conflict necessarily between advocating for safe and secure borders and treating people with respect and dignity,\u201d he added. \u201cWe always have to treat people with dignity, God-given dignity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe state doesn\u2019t award it, and the state can\u2019t take it away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n