Pope Francis issued a major rebuke Tuesday to the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportation of migrants, warning that the forceful removal of people purely because of their illegal status deprives them of their inherent dignity and “will end badly.”
Francis took the remarkable step of addressing the U.S. migrant crackdown in a letter to U.S. bishops in which he appeared to take direct aim at Vice President JD Vance’s defense of the deportation program on theological grounds.
History’s first Latin American pope has long made caring for migrants a priority of his pontificate, demanding that countries welcome, protect, promote and integrate those fleeing conflicts, poverty and climate disasters. Francis has also said governments are expected to do so to the limits of their capacity.
Lawmakers in several states have introduced measures to classify the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol — which are used together in the majority of U.S. abortions — as controlled dangerous substances, making it a crime to possess them without prescriptions.
Louisiana last year became the first state to adopt such a law, despite concerns from doctors who contended that the restrictions would make it harder for them to access the drugs to perform life-saving procedures.
The measures have been introduced in states where Republicans control the government and where there are bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions.
The legislation has died or appears unlikely to advance in Indiana and Mississippi.
The St. Thomas campus store stopped its in-store textbook sales at the end of the fall semester, implementing an online-only model run by Barnes & Noble College that supplies students with course materials directly through a digital bookstore.
Store coordinator Anika Barland said the change came out of necessity, as Willo Labs, the store’s previous book supplier, announced that it would no longer service independent campus bookstores like St. Thomas’ at the end of 2024.
“This is kind of the way that most bookstores have been going towards,” Barland said. “We’re actually one of the last colleges to adopt this process.”
The change has been met with criticism by some faculty and students.
Adam Mueller can be reached at muel7541@stthomas.edu.
