The Trump Administration defends the right to arrest immigrants even “in schools or churches”

The Department of Homeland Security this week rescinded a directive from the previous administration that regulated the action of agents of the Border Patrol and the federal agency for immigration control (ICE) around the so-called “zones” sensitive”, including schools and places of worship.

“Criminals will no longer be able to escape arrest by hiding in American schools and churches,” said the ministry, ensuring that it trusts the “common sense” of these federal agents.

Dissuasive nature

In an interview on Sunday with ABC, Tom Homan notably stressed that “many” members of the Salvadoran criminal gang MS-13, which is particularly active in the United States, were “aged 14 to 17 years old”.

“ICE agents must have the authority to decide that if a threat to national security or public safety exists in one of these locations, they have the opportunity to make an arrest,” he argued. .

Tom Homan invoked the need for the dissuasive nature of the repression of illegal immigration. “If we don't show that there are consequences for illegal entry, we will never solve the border problem,” he said.

“Places of fear and uncertainty”

After Bishop Mariann Budde's sermon on Wednesday, several heads of Catholic institutions expressed alarm in a press release on Thursday about the intentions displayed by the Trump Administration.

“Transforming places of care, healing and comfort into places of fear and uncertainty for those in need, by undermining the trust between pastors, caregivers, educators and those they serve will not restore our neighborhoods safer,” they write.

Vice President JD Vance criticized the Catholic bishops' conference in a CBS interview on Sunday, accusing it of “failing to be a good partner in the common-sense immigration policy that Americans voted for.”

Tom Homan also implicitly recognized that the expulsion statistics for this first week of the Trump Administration – around 500 per day – had not yet reached the ultimately targeted level, insisting on the need for additional resources.