Trump pans National Cathedral bishop's plea for compassion towards immigrants, LGBTQ people
Published in News & Features
President Donald Trump was angered Tuesday when the bishop of the National Cathedral asked him to have compassion towards “scared” immigrants and LGBTQ people.
The new president sat grimly in the front row of the pews as Rev. Mariann Budde called on him to “have mercy” on undocumented immigrants and sexual minorities who were targeted by his hardline Day One blizzard of executive orders.
“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” said Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington. “There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives.”
The prelate continued by ticking off a laundry list of crucial jobs and roles that undocumented immigrants play in American society as Trump glowered, flanked by First Lady Melania Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
“The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals,” she said. “They they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.”
Trump made no secret of his irritation at the contrarian message by the pastor, who was addressing a National Prayer Service on his first full day back in office.
“Not too exciting. I didn’t think it was a good service, no,” he told reporters at the White House later in the afternoon. “They can do much better.”
Trump has unapologetically made a wide crackdown on undocumented immigrants and border security a cornerstone of his historic second term in office.
He enacted dozens of executive orders within hours of being sworn into office, many of which are designed to lay the groundwork for mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants. He also declared an emergency at the border and claimed the right to send the military to help stop more migrants and asylum seekers from crossing into the U.S.
Trump proclaimed that the federal government will only recognize two genders, a nod to the widespread anti-transgender sentiment in his MAGA movement.
The bishop delivered what could only be heard as a rebuke to Trump as he prepares to launch what he vows will be the biggest deportation operation in history.
“Have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away,” she said.
“God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger,” Budde intoned. “For we were all once strangers in this land.”
_____
©2025 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Comments