US bishops are reiterating their call for immigrants in the US to be treated with dignity as the Trump administration launches a campaign that compares immigrants living in the country illegally to extraterrestrials.
The White House launched a government website “Aliens.gov” on May 28, a retro sci-fi styled site that claims the government has “kept a dark secret” about “aliens” and “invasions” for decades.
The site mimics sci-fi aesthetics with a bold, geometric sans-serif typeface in neon green and black, like the 1950s movie posters used to advertise Cold War-era sci-fi films that featured monstrous extraterrestrials.
“Aliens are walking among us, living in our neighborhoods, and interacting with us in our daily lives,” the site claims, adding that the “aliens” “shop at the same stores, attend the same classes as our children, and live normal human existences.”
Promoting an “alien arrest map” of immigrant detentions across the country, the site clearly states that people without legal status “don’t belong here.”
The website urges visitors to “report suspected aliens” to the “ICE Tip Line.”
In US law, the term alien is a formal legal classification meaning a person who is not a US citizen or national, a definition that appears in Immigration and Nationality Act And it is used in laws, regulations, and court decisions.
Dignity, national security ‘not in conflict’, says Bishop.
Immigrants have long been portrayed through metaphors in American culture, ranging from 19th-century political cartoons that portrayed Irish, Italian, and Chinese newcomers as monsters or inhuman beings, to modern rhetoric describing immigrant groups as “invaders,” “infections,” or something other than entirely human.
In a statement, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) lamented “the state of contemporary debate and condemnation of immigrants.” special message In November 2025.
In February, bishops condemned a plan by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to increase the capacity of migrant detention centers across the US. The government indicated earlier this year it would spend about $38 billion to strengthen detention space.
Victoria, Texas Bishop Brendan Cahill, chair of the bishops’ immigration committee, called the plans “deeply disturbing” at the time.
Bishop said, “The idea of ​​housing thousands of families in giant warehouses should challenge the conscience of every American.”
Asked about the government’s new “Aliens” campaign on May 29, USCCB spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi told EWTN News that the bishops have “consistently condemned the insulting and dehumanizing rhetoric toward immigrants and consistently advocated for meaningful reform of our country’s immigration laws and procedures.”
“He has also repeatedly said that human dignity and national security are not in conflict,” he said, pointing to the bishops’ specific message.
At the time, the bishops said they “opposed the indiscriminate mass deportation of people,” adding that the bishops “prayed for an end to the dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or law enforcement.”
In February the bishops urged the US Supreme Court to uphold the US constitutional policy of “birthright citizenship”, in which anyone born on US soil counts as a US citizen.
The dispute before the court began after Trump signed an order in January 2025 directing that children born to parents in the country illegally are not entitled to U.S. citizenship.
Pope Leo XIV – the first Pope in the history of the United States – also affirmed in November 2025 that while nations have the right “to determine who, how and when people enter”, countries must “seek ways to treat people humanely, to treat people with the dignity they deserve.”
“When people have been living good lives – and many of them (in the United States) have for 10, 15, 20 years – treating them in a way that is extremely humiliating, to say the least, is not acceptable,” the Pope said on November 18, 2025.
Regarding Bishops’ November 12, 2025 message on immigrationThe Pope commented: “I very much appreciate what the bishops have said. I think it is a very important statement. I would especially invite all Catholics, but also people of goodwill, to listen carefully to what they say.”
Meanwhile, in a statement to EWTN News on May 29, a spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security argued that news reports “too often” ignore “the victims (of illegal immigration) and their stories.”
“These victims and their families are the reason we work around the clock to arrest and deport illegal aliens from our communities,” the department said. The department described crimes committed by undocumented immigrants as “wholly preventable.”
“Someone is targeted by ICE because they are in the United States illegally,” the statement added. “Approximately 70% of ICE’s arrests are of criminal illegal aliens who have been convicted or have charges pending,” the statement added.
ICE data shows that the majority of people arrested and held in ICE custody do not have criminal convictions, and some analyzes suggest that the 70% figure comes from redefining “criminal” to include those with pending charges, foreign charges not tried in a U.S. court, and people who have never been convicted of a crime.
According to an analysis of arrest and detention data by ICE, approximately 25-30% of people arrested by ICE have a prior conviction. Kato Institute and this Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse based on ICE data.
