Trump-Loathing Billionaire Teams With Archbishop to Fight Deportations
"For nearly 50 years, Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski has ministered to immigrants who fear being forced to leave the US. But the unease in his community now, as President Donald Trump presses for the biggest deportation effort in US history, is unlike anything he has ever seen before.
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"Catholic leaders have been critical of Trump’s deportation drive. American-born Pope Leo XIV, in his first address to world diplomats, urged respect for migrants, in a rebuke to the president. And Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington called the administration’s immigration policy “morally repugnant” in a CNN interview.
"Wenski, 74, has taken an active role — with help from a Trump-loathing local billionaire — in trying to protect and provide comfort to immigrants who fear being caught up in ICE’s sweeps. He helped expand a Church program that provides free legal advice to immigrants facing deportation. And he pressed Florida to allow clergy access to “Alligator Alcatraz,” the state-run immigration detainment facility in the Everglades.
Some wealthy Miamians, including Cuban-born billionaire Miguel Fernandez, have stepped in to provide Wenski with financial backing. Wenski and Fernandez have known each other for about 15 years, and the businessman has helped rally support from other prominent local figures who’ve been repelled by the spectacle of masked federal agents arresting workers and parents.
Miami is a city of immigrants. Some 60% of the population is foreign-born and 70% are Latinos. But it was also one of the large metropolitan areas won by Trump in the 2024 election — a sign that many members of its large and influential Cuban exile community embraced MAGA conservatism. Now, some appear to be feeling buyer’s remorse, according to Wenski."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-08-19/trump-immigration-crackdown-faces-resistance-from-miami-billionaire-archbishop?srnd=homepage-americas
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