Catholic Bishops, Evangelical Leaders Issue Unprecedented Joint Statement on Immigration
Leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Association of Evangelicals released a joint statement on immigration this week — the first time senior leaders of the two traditions have spoken with one voice on the issue in U.S. history.
The statement, "A Call for Christian Compassion and Wisdom in the Immigration Debate," was released October 13 by Bishop Brendan Cahill, chairman of the USCCB's Committee on Migration, and the Rev. Walter Kim, president of the NAE. Both serve as co-chairs of the Evangelical-Catholic Dialogue on Immigration (ECDI), a body the two organizations formed in March made up of five Catholic and five evangelical members in addition to the co-chairs.
A notably unified document
Vatican News noted that the statement's significance lies less in new positions than in the fact two traditions with real doctrinal differences arrived at it together. Cahill and Kim wrote: "As Catholic and evangelical Christians, we have doctrinal differences, but we are united in our conviction that God calls us to stand both with our fellow Americans who are experiencing economic and cultural anxieties and with our immigrant neighbors who are facing existential challenges."
The statement grounds its position in three scriptural principles: the inherent dignity of every person as bearing the image of God (Genesis 1:27), the family as a divinely ordained institution (Genesis 2:24), and the proper — and limited — role of civil government (Romans 13:1–7). It states plainly that human dignity "comes from God, not government, and no earthly power may erase it."
Why Catholic parishes are especially affected
The statement's release follows a joint report, "One Part of the Body: The Potential Impact of Deportations on American Christian Families," issued earlier by USCCB's Department of Migration and Refugee Services alongside the NAE, World Relief, and the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
That report found that more than 10 million Christian immigrants are currently vulnerable to deportation, and that Catholics make up the largest share of that group — 61%, compared with 13% who are evangelical. Nearly 7 million U.S. citizens who are Christian live in a household with someone facing deportation risk. Translated into pews: roughly one in five Catholics in the United States either faces losing legal status or lives with someone who does, a reality the NAE page describes as touching "roughly one in 12 believers" nationally across both traditions.
Detention numbers cited in connection with the statement show how quickly the landscape has shifted: from about 39,000 people in custody in January 2025 to roughly 70,000 by February 2026, according to figures reported by Christian Daily International. Of those detained, 73% have no criminal conviction, and only 5% have been convicted of a violent crime.
What the statement calls for
The bishops and evangelical leaders did not call for an end to enforcement or border security — the statement explicitly affirms both as necessary functions of government. Instead, it asks Congress to pursue what it calls "targeted, proportionate, and humane" border measures, paired with:
Expanded legal pathways for immigrants who have built long-term lives in the country
Guaranteed access to legal counsel and spiritual care for anyone in detention
Protections against the separation of families
Rebuilt and reliable channels for refugee resettlement and legal labor migration
That last point carries particular weight for Catholic refugee resettlement agencies: the federal refugee admissions ceiling for fiscal year 2026 stands at 7,500, the lowest figure since the modern refugee program was created in 1980.
Next steps
The NAE's page on the dialogue outlines three ways parishes and congregations can engage with the statement directly: praying for immigrant families, policymakers, and law enforcement; teaching its three biblical principles through a homily series or parish study; and bringing the statement to local members of Congress — ideally, the NAE suggests, in partnership between a Catholic and an evangelical from the same community, as a living example of the unity the document describes.
