Tom Homan Insist on Inviting Pope Leo XIV on ICE Raids: "They Are Talking About Something They Don't Understand"

Tom Homan, President Donald Trump's border czar, wants Pope Leo XIV to see a deportation raid up close.

The invitation, delivered during a Turning Point USA panel, came after the pope condemned the way migrants and refugees are treated, saying people fleeing violence or poverty are often viewed as "worse than house pets or animals."

Then he repeated during an interview with Fox News. "Yes. And I said that," Homan said when asked if he wanted the first American pope to join Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on a ride-along. "I will sit down and talk to him. Because they're talking about something that they don't understand."

The exchange marks the clearest public collision yet between Pope Leo XVI and the Trump administration over immigration, turning deportation policy into a direct moral fight between the White House and the Vatican. Trump officials are defending raids, detention, and removals as a matter of law, border security, and public safety. Leo has framed the same issue around human dignity, warning that governments cannot treat migrants as disposable even when enforcing borders.

"They are human beings, and we have to treat human beings in a humanitarian way and not treat them worse ... than house pets or animals," Leo told reporters aboard the papal plane after returning from a four-nation Africa tour.

While the pope did not single out the United States in those remarks, his comments landed directly inside the U.S. immigration debate. Leo, the first United States born pope, has previously questioned whether hardline immigration policies can be reconciled with Catholic pro-life teaching. He has also said countries have a right to control their borders, while insisting migrants must be treated with dignity.

Homan, a former acting ICE director, rejected that framing. "I'll explain to them what happened under the Biden administration," he said. "An open border is the most inhumane thing you can do."

The dispute did not begin with Pope Leo's latest comments. In November, U.S. Catholic bishops issued a rare special message opposing "the indiscriminate mass deportation of people" and warning against "dehumanizing rhetoric and violence," whether aimed at immigrants or law enforcement.

Homan answered bluntly at the time. "The Catholic Church is wrong," he told reporters. "A secure border saves lives. We're going to enforce the law and by doing that we save a lot of lives."

He also leaned into his own faith. "I'm a lifelong Catholic," Homan said, adding that he was speaking "not only as a border czar" but "as a Catholic." He said church leaders should spend more time "fixing the Catholic Church."

The U.S. bishops have explained that the ICE raids and deportation practices is affecting their flock, and revealed that the attendance to mass in the country is down.

There is no sign Pope Leo plans to accept Homan's invitation.