Vice President Vance, a practicing Catholic, forcefully pushed back against the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Sunday after the religious group criticized President Trump’s new executive orders related to immigration, deportations, and refugee resettlement. The vice president says the bishops may be complaining only because of the vast sums of money their charities raise for migrant services. 

Mr. Trump has issued a flurry of executive actions aimed at immigration since returning to the White House just six days ago. He also has deployed troops to the southern border, directed the military to begin facilitating deportation flights, and is trying to invalidate birthright citizenship.

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, said last week that Mr. Trump’s executive orders on immigration would negatively impact the communities that Catholic charities aim to serve. 

“Some provisions contained in the Executive Orders, such as those focused on the treatment of immigrants and refugees, foreign aid, expansion of the death penalty, and the environment, are deeply troubling and will have negative consequences, many of which will harm the most vulnerable among us,” Archbishop Broglio said.

In addition to serving as the leader of the Conference of Bishops, Archbishop Broglio also serves as the Archbishop for the Military Services of the United States — the Vatican’s representative to Catholics in the U.S. military. 

In an interview with “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Mr. Vance said he was “heartbroken” that his fellow Catholics would not support the president’s border and immigration crackdowns. The vice president also implied that the Conference may be opposed to the executive actions only because of the money its affiliates get for refugee resettlement charities. 

“As a practicing Catholic, I was actually heartbroken by that statement, and I think that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror … and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns, or are they actually worried about their bottom line?” Mr. Vance asked. 

According to the Department of Homeland Security, the government has doled out tens of millions of dollars to Catholic organizations across the country through the Shelter and Services Program in recent years. In fiscal year 2024, the department sent more than $90 million to seven Catholic dioceses and archdioceses stretching from San Diego to the Rio Grande Valley. According to the conference’s own financial statements, it spent nearly $125 million for “migration and refugee services” in 2022, more than 90 percent of which came from government sources. 

“We’re going to enforce immigration law, we’re going to protect the American people. Donald Trump promised to do that, and I believe the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — if they’re worried about the humanitarian costs of immigration enforcement, let them talk about the children who have been sex trafficked because of the wide-open border,” he added. 

Last year, following criticism from conservatives who claimed that Catholic charities were facilitating illegal immigration, the Conference of Bishops put out a fact sheet pushing back against the notion that they were doing anything illegal. 

“Catholic organizations cooperate in providing humanitarian aid with local, state, and federal officials,” the bishops said. “This includes working with law enforcement to identify and counter criminal activity, such as human trafficking, and assisting those who have been victimized by crime.”

A number of state officials have fiercely criticized Catholic charities for their role in migrant resettlement in recent years, with some elected executives suing or cutting funding for the groups. 

The attorney general of Texas, Ken Paxton, is currently suing the Catholic group Annunciation House, which works with Customs and Border Patrol to resettle migrants in America. The Texas Supreme Court heard arguments earlier this month in a case brought by Mr. Paxton against the charity, which he is seeking to have shut down. America First Legal — a group founded by White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller — filed an amicus brief in support of Mr. Paxton’s lawsuit. 

The governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry — who, like Mr. Vance is a practicing Catholic — vetoed $1 million in state funding for a Catholic charity service last year, saying that the group was helping to facilitate “the influx of illegal aliens into our country.”