Catholic Iowa bishop steps up in case of immigrant from Ivory Coast facing deportation

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(RNS) — Last week, Bishop Dennis G. Walsh did something he’d never done before.

Walsh, the bishop for the Catholic diocese of Davenport, Iowa, wrote a letter to the Trump administration urging it to halt the deportation of an Ivory Coast native, who is being held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, to Sierra Leone.

While some Catholic leaders have publicly opposed the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, it’s uncommon for them to intervene in individual cases. Walsh’s letter comes as more clergy and parishioners are raising concerns over the administration ramping up its enforcement operations. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement rounded up 50,000 people in July, the highest since January 2025, according to an Associated Press analysis of government data.

“This is the only time that I’ve done that,” Walsh said about sending the letter advocating for the woman, Fatou Traore, 43. “The facts I do know just bring into question whether this was a legal detention or not.”

The bishop wrote to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin last…