Attacks by members of Congress on Catholic ministries that are providing humanitarian assistance to migrants at the U.S. border were among the challenges to religious freedom detailed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in its annual report on the state of religious liberty in the United States. According to the report, released on Jan. 16, “Some Republicans in Congress have made clear that they think the mere provision to migrants of basic humanitarian aid like food, water, and shelter constitutes facilitation of unlawful entry, and that the religious charities’ assistance to migrants encourages them to cross the border illegally in the first place.”
The bishops identified five areas of “critical concern” for religious liberty: Attacks on faith-based immigration services, a rise in antisemitic incidents, in vitro fertilization mandates, “gender ideology in law” and threats to parental choice in education.
The report drew particular attention to the Secure the Border Act. Introduced by House Republicans in 2023, this bill stands a greater chance of becoming law this year now that Republicans have control of the White House and both houses of Congress. Section 115(b) of the bill “would defund any organization that ‘facilitates or encourages unlawful activity, including unlawful entry.’”
State-level Republican politicians, notably Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, have already launched similar legal offensives against Catholic ministries like Annunciation House, an El Paso shelter that welcomes and assists migrants. In February 2024, Mr. Paxton filed suit against Annunciation House after it refused to provide documents his office had demanded. He accused Annunciation House of participating in human trafficking. The report mentioned Mr. Paxton by name, characterizing his actions as “lawfare against Catholic service to migrants.”
The report warned that xenophobic rhetoric could threaten the safety of people working in Catholic ministries that serve migrants: “Beyond legal threats to religious liberty, the physical safety of staff, volunteers, and clients of Catholic ministries and institutions that serve newcomers may be jeopardized by extremists motivated by false and misleading claims made against the Church’s ministries.”
The U.S.C.C.B. also raised concerns about several actions taken by the outgoing Biden administration, particularly its interpretation of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act of 2023. While the report praised the act’s “commendable goal of advancing the well-being of pregnant women and their preborn children,” it criticized the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s April 2024 regulations for the P.W.F.A.
According to the report, “in complete disregard of the text of the statute and the intent of Congress, the EEOC issued final regulations for PWFA that construe it to require accommodations for abortion, in vitro fertilization, and contraception, and possibly other procedures or arrangements that go against the beliefs of Catholics and other faith groups, such as sterilization and surrogacy. These requirements would most typically arise in the case of employees’ requests for leave to obtain and recover from such procedures.”
While the bishops supported the passage of the P.W.F.A., the U.S.C.C.B. and the dioceses of Lafayette and Lake Charles subsequently filed suit against the E.E.O.C. in the Western District of Louisiana, citing concerns that Catholic ministries could be forced to facilitate abortions in violation of their First Amendment protections. The court found in June 2024 that the E.E.O.C. had “exceeded its statutory authority” in interpreting the P.W.F.A. and that its rules “do not adequately exempt employers like the Diocese.”
The bishops’ report also called attention to a rise in incidents of religiously motivated harassment on U.S. college campuses, particularly antisemitic incidents that accompanied widespread student protests during the spring of 2024 against the Israel Defense Forces’ campaign in Gaza. As the protests became more heated, the report said, “Jewish students were assaulted, spit on, and verbally abused. Professors held class at the very encampments where Jewish students were being harassed. Jewish students were excluded from clubs.”
Supporters of the protests have taken issue with broad accusations of antisemitism leveled at student supporters of Palestinians. The U.S.C.C.B. report acknowledges that “many of these demonstrations aimed primarily to express solidarity with suffering Palestinians.”
The report was approved by Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend, chair of the U.S.C.C.B.’s Committee for Religious Liberty. In the document, the U.S.C.C.B. defined religious liberty as “immunity from coercion in religious matters.”
Looking ahead to 2025, the report identified several issues that might involve threats to religious liberty. It notes in particular that President-elect Donald Trump’s support for a nationwide I.V.F. insurance coverage mandate “could pose religious liberty problems, as well as life and dignity problems.” Yet the first item on the report’s concluding list of threats to religious liberty was an offensive by the incoming administration and its allies against immigrant residents and various Catholic agencies that assist them.
“When a person in need comes before us, we don’t check their papers before serving them as Christ taught us,” the report said. “Ministry to migrants is not peripheral to the work of the Church. It is central. It institutionalizes those corporal works of mercy which are an expression of the love of Christ.”
