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President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, is inviting the head of the world’s largest religious group to join U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on a ride-along in an American city.
While speaking at a Turning Point USA panel on Wednesday, Homan, who has identified himself as a “lifelong Catholic,” confirmed he would like Pope Leo XIV to join federal officers for a ride-along because “They’re talking about something they don’t understand.”
This comes amid an ongoing feud between the pope and the Trump administration over immigration policy and the conflict in Iran. While maintaining that “every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter,” Leo has criticized the administration’s interior immigration enforcement as “extremely disrespectful, to say the least.” In response, President Donald Trump has criticized the pope as “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.” Vice President JD Vance, who is also Catholic, has suggested that “in some cases it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality.”
However, Homan, who oversees Trump’s border security efforts, has taken a different approach. Asked on the panel Wednesday whether he was inviting the pope to participate in a ride-along with ICE, he responded emphatically, “Yes.”
“I will sit down and talk to him,” he said. “Because they’re talking about something that they don’t understand.”
Trump administration Border Czar Tom Homan (right) said that he would “welcome” a discussion with the Vatican about immigration policy amid the administration’s feud with the Holy See. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Matteo Pernaselci – Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
Homan said, “I’ll explain to them what happened under the Biden administration. An open border is the most inhumane thing you can do.”
He went on to rip into former President Joe Biden and former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over their handling of the border from 2021 to 2025. He said the previous administration used tax dollars to provide illegal immigrants with transportation, lodging, and work authorization.
“When you make that promise to the whole world, the most vulnerable people will give their life savings to the cartels to make that dangerous journey,” said Homan.
“The most humane thing you can do,” he said, “is secure the border.”
“President Trump has illegal immigration down 96.7 percent … When 97 percent less people are coming, how many women aren’t being raped? How many children aren’t dying? How many pounds of fentanyl is not getting in to kill Americans? How many known suspected terrorists aren’t making it into the United States?” he asked.
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A member of the Sapper Taskforce stands near the border wall separating Mexico and the United States in San Diego, Calif., on March 21, 2025. (Mike Blake/Reuters)
Homan has previously gone on the record on the administration’s spat with the Vatican, saying, “I welcome discussion with any of them, because they don’t understand illegal immigration is not a victimless crime.”
Speaking outside the White House earlier this month, he told reporters, “If they wore my shoes for 40 years, and talked to a 9-year-old girl that got raped multiple times, or stood in the back of a tractor trailer with 19 dead aliens at my feet, including a 5-year-old boy that baked to death, if they understood the atrocities that happened on the open border, I think their opinion would change.”
“Human traffickers are out of business, right? The cartels are going bankrupt because of that secure border. I wish they’d understand that,” he lamented. “Because if they did, I think they’d have a different opinion.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Holy See for comment.
A split image shows Pope Leo XIV, left, and President Donald Trump, right, amid a public dispute over immigration policy and the conflict involving Iran. (Simone Risoluti – Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images; Salwan Georges/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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While maintaining “I have no fear of the Trump administration,” the Roman pontiff has emphasized that the feud with the president has been overblown.
“Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said,” he has said. “It was looked at as if I was trying to debate, again, the president, which is not my interest at all.”
