Bishop Barron says ICE should focus on 'serious' criminals, urges protesters to 'cease interfering'

Jan 19, 2026 / 09:34 am (CNA).

Winona-Rochester Bishop Robert Barron has called on federal immigration officials to focus on deporting only serious criminals while also urging U.S. protesters to “cease interfering” with the work of immigration agents, with the plea coming amid heightened national tensions amid mass deportations and the killing of a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis.

Barron issued the statement on Jan. 18 via X. A native of Chicago, he was made bishop of the southern Minnesota diocese in 2022.

The prelate made the remarks as officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continue enhanced deportations of immigrants in the country illegally. The mass deportation effort is a major part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s domestic policy in his second term.

Tensions were heightened greatly on Jan. 7 when an ICE officer shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis as she apparently engaged in a protest of ICE enforcement in the city.

Good had partially blocked a street with her car and was approached by ICE agents, who ordered her out of the vehicle; when she attempted to speed away she allegedly struck ICE agent Jonathan Ross with her car. Ross shot and killed her in response. The killing generated national outrage and major protests throughout the country.

‘There is a way out’

Barron, who regularly weighs in on Catholic and other issues in the public sphere, said on X that his “heart is breaking” over the “violence, retribution, threats, protests, deep suspicion of one another, political unrest [and] fear” that has spread throughout Minnesota in recent weeks.

Offering “a modest proposal” for resolving “this unbearable state of affairs,” Barron urged immigration officials to “limit themselves, at least for the time being, to rounding up undocumented people who have committed serious crimes.”

“Political leaders should stop stirring up resentment against officers who are endeavoring to enforce the laws of the country,” he continued. “And protestors should cease interfering with the work of ICE.”

Americans, meanwhile, “must stop shouting at one another and demonizing their opponents.”

“Where we are now is untenable. There is a way out,” the bishop said.

Minneapolis is only the latest flashpoint in ongoing national unrest over the federal government’s immigration actions, one that has touched the U.S. Catholic Church in numerous ways.

Multiple U.S. bishops have issued dispensations from Mass for those who are afraid of being arrested and deported, including the Archdiocese of New Orleans, the Diocese of San Bernardino, and numerous others.

In December of 2025 ICE agents arrested a Catholic church employee in Minnesota, after which they surveilled the parish, with the church pastor claiming the agents were “terrorizing” locals “just by their presence.”

Church leaders have regularly attempted to reach out to immigrants who have been targeted for deportation by ICE. In November of 2025 Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila and Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez led the Stations of the Cross at an ICE detention facility in Aurora, while prelates such as Lincoln Bishop James Conley have urged the government to allow pastoral access to detained immigrants.

At their November 2025 plenary assembly, the U.S. bishops d eclared their opposition to the indiscriminate mass deportation of immigrants in the country illegally. The bishops urged the government to respect the dignity of migrants as well.

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/269169/bishop-barron-says-ice-should-focus-on-serious-criminals-urges-protesters-to-cease-interfering