In
a new interview, the pope says the U.S. will end up as a "prisoner"
behind the wall.
President
Donald Trump’s plans for a border wall has attracted plenty of criticism, but
it may have just received its most high-profile critic yet.
In
an interview with the Spanish outlet La Sexta,
Pope Francis called out the president’s plans, saying that the U.S. would end
up as a “prisoner” itself.
“He
who raises a wall ends up a prisoner of the wall he erected… If you raise a
wall between people, you end up a prisoner of that wall that you raised,” the
pope said.
The
comments echo Pope Francis’s earlier statements on Trump’s plans for the wall.
In January, Pope Francis criticized fear of migrants, saying,
“It is the fear that makes us crazy.”
As it is, Pope Francis’s new comments on Trump’s proposed wall are the latest in a volley of criticism aimed at White House policies.
From presenting Trump with a treatise on climate change to calling on the White House to extend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, to even questioning Trump’s professed Christianity, Pope Francis has made a habit of criticizing what he sees as the president’s ignorance and nativism over the past two years.
Trump’s
plans for the wall, meanwhile, continue to move in fits and starts. Over
halfway through his first term, an actual complete wall is little closer to
fruition than it was when he first took office in 2017.
The
latest developments surrounding the wall involve the Department of Homeland
Security requesting Department of Defense assistance in erecting new barriers,
as well as replacing current barriers. The request focuses on an area of the
border totaling some 218 miles in length. However,
much of the border still remains wall-free.
On
Sunday, though, the White House reiterated a threat of closing down the border entirely. White
House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said that only “something dramatic” could
prevent Trump from closing the border. The announcement coincided with the
State Department’s pronouncement that it was ending assistance programs to
numerous Central American countries, despite rising numbers of migrants from
the region.
Mexico must use its very strong immigration laws to stop the many thousands of people trying to get into the USA. Our detention areas are maxed out & we will take no more illegals. Next step is to close the Border! This will also help us with stopping the Drug flow from Mexico!Trump tweet on March 30
