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Catholic Relief Services worker in Ipwizi, Tanzania
A village woman greets a Catholic Relief Services worker in Ipwizi, Tanzania, as CRS celebrates its 60th year of presence in Tanzania in March 2023. (OSV News photo/Carlos Barrio, Catholic Relief Services)

Washington Roundup: Trump weighs options in Israel-Iran conflict, CLINIC condemns expanded ICE raids


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OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, World News

WASHINGTON — The White House said President Donald Trump would decide whether the U.S. military will get directly involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran within two weeks amid negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear efforts.

The same week in Washington, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reiterated its call for Nigeria to be designated as Country of Particular Concern after an attack at a Catholic mission, and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network objected to the Trump administration’s move to increase its deportation efforts in major cities.

Trump considers strike on Iranian uranium enrichment facility

Amid Israeli airstrikes carried out on nuclear sites in Iran and retaliatory drone attacks on Israel, Trump is reportedly weighing the degree to which the U.S. will or will not join the conflict.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a June 19 press briefing that Trump will decide on whether he will attack a Fordo uranium enrichment facility in Iran “within the next two weeks.”

Trump has long opposed allowing Tehran to develop a nuclear weapon but has reportedly balked at entering a Middle Eastern conflict amid objections from his base to U.S. intervention there.

Pope Leo XIV has called for a peaceful resolution.

As some media outlets reported, Trump has at times suggested he would do things in the next two weeks–such as releasing a health care plan–that never materialized.

Watchdog group repeats call for Nigeria to be designated Country of Particular Concern

USCIRF, an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission that monitors religious freedom around the globe, reiterated its call for the U.S. Department of State to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, or CPC, following an attack earlier this month that killed at least 150 people, many of whom were internally displaced persons sheltered in a Catholic mission in Yelwata in the nation’s Benue state.

“The abhorrent violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt and the systematic, ongoing, and egregious attacks throughout Nigeria against Christians and Muslims are indications that government prevention efforts are failing and not protecting vulnerable religious communities,” Former Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., now USCIRF chair, said in a statement, “U.S. government foreign assistance to Nigeria should efficiently and effectively support efforts to protect religious freedom.”

Some have attributed clashes over land between farmers and herders to ecological changes brought about by climate change, among other violence, while others, including religious liberty watchdogs, have argued such attacks are conducted by Islamist groups and targeted against Christian communities and, in some cases, moderate Muslim communities.

The International Religious Freedom Act requires the U.S. government to designate CPCs annually. CPCs are defined in law and policy as countries where governments either engage in or tolerate “particularly severe violations” of religious freedom. The designation can carry diplomatic consequences such as sanctions.

Catholic immigration advocates condemn expansion of ICE raids

CLINIC on June 16 criticized a directive from Trump for federal immigration officials to prioritize deportations from Democratic-run cities.

In a directive posted on his social media website Truth Social, Trump wrote, “We must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.”

But Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, California, chair of CLINIC’s board of directors, said in a statement, “We should not be afraid of our neighbors and friends.”

“Mass deportation threatens neighborhoods and families,” Bishop Soto said. “This is not who we have pledged to be as one nation under God with liberty and justice for all. Catholic social teaching affirms that our common human dignity is found in the social bonds that makes us good neighbors and good friends, regardless of legal status. These actions disrupt the rhythm of commerce, schooling, and prayer in many neighborhoods. It tears at the fabric of families, businesses, and churches. We must remain resolute in fostering the social bonds that make us thrive together as brothers and sisters, children of the one God who loves us all.”

Anna Gallagher, executive director of CLINIC, added in a statement, “This surge in enforcement is a deliberate and dangerous attempt to sow fear, division, and scapegoating.”

“Our faith calls us to welcome the stranger, protect human dignity, and uphold the sanctity of family,” Gallagher said. “These raids are tearing apart the very fabric of our communities. No child should wake up afraid their parent won’t come home. No family should be targeted based on where they live.”

Catholic social teaching on immigration seeks to balance three interrelated principles: the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain their lives, the right of a country to regulate its borders and immigration, and a nation’s duty to conduct that regulation with justice and mercy.

CRS urges supporters to ask senators to oppose aid cuts

Catholic Relief Services on June 18 urged its supporters to ask their senators to reject cuts to foreign aid approved by the House.

Earlier in June, House Republicans passed Trump’s so-called rescissions package to rescind about $9.3 billion in previously appropriated funding, including $8.3 billion in foreign aid.

CRS, the overseas charitable arm of the Catholic Church in the U.S., said in its message to supporters, “Tell your senator to oppose cuts!”

“Countless lives are at risk,” the message said. “This package proposes cancelling funding, approved by both Republicans and Democrats in March, for programming focused on supporting pregnant mothers and their children, providing emergency food, preventing infectious diseases and ensuring children, families and communities can move out of poverty over the long-term.”

“At this very same moment, Congress is also assessing support for lifesaving aid in the fiscal year 2026 federal budget,” the message said. “Approving this new package of cuts would signal approval for shrinking or eliminating funding for international poverty-reducing programs in future budgets.”

Cuts to aid funds would impact efforts by Catholic and other faith-based humanitarian groups such as CRS.

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