(LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Joseph Strickland confronted U.S. bishops about their silence over children trafficked upon crossing the border illegally.
During a Catholics for Catholics award ceremony for U.S. border czar Tom Homan in honor of his work saving over 62,000 children from human trafficking, Strickland highlighted the approximately 250,000 children still lost from border crossings under Joe Biden’s administration.
The bishop stressed that if the unborn are not protected, the threats to children “just ripple through every age.”
“As General Flynn said, there’s a complacency that’s so easy for us to slide into,” he continued, pointing out that even Church leaders “have turned a blind eye to many of these border issues.”
Strickland exhorted listeners to pray the rosary daily, as the Blessed Mother has “pleaded” for us to do. “That is our strongest hope. With all the great work of men and women like Tom Homan. We must pray as the people of God and remember we are all children before him.”
“And let us pray especially for our shepherds, from Rome to USCCB. To pray for the shepherds’ hearts to truly be shepherds. Not politicians. Not CEOs of a giant corporation.”
“We can’t pretend that open borders are a blessing to anyone,” Strickland said. “We must have law and truth, or we find chaos. And too much chaos is what we’ve seen, and these children are suffering because of the chaos that I’ve allowed, that we’ve allowed in whatever way we’ve been complacent.”
Bishop Joseph Strickland confronts U.S. bishops:
government money, moral silence, and trafficked children.“When ministries depend on state funding to the point of silence, the Church’s prophetic voice is weakened. The Church must never profit from the suffering of others.” pic.twitter.com/472Nb57W8m
— John-Henry Westen (@JhWesten) January 22, 2026
“When ministries depend on state funding to the point of silence, the Church’s prophetic voice is weakened. The Church must never profit from the suffering of others,” Strickland said in a rebuke of the silence of the U.S. bishops on the child trafficking resulting from illegal border crossings.
During Thursday evening’s event, Catholics for Catholics president John Yep stressed that the “timeless test” of a society or culture is “how that nation treats its most vulnerable citizens.”
“How did they treat those people who had no voice? The defenseless. The children. In 2025, the 250th anniversary of the country, we’re being judged by how we’re taking care of those kids,” he said.
