Pope Leo places former illegal immigrant in charge of red state diocese

A large Roman Catholic diocese pushed back at criticism Friday after Pope Leo XIV appointed a former illegal immigrant as a bishop amid heightened tensions between the Vatican and Washington over refugees and ICE enforcement.

Leo nominated Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala as bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, which covers all of West Virginia. Menjivar-Ayala originally arrived in San Ysidro, California, smuggled in a car trunk after making several prior attempts as a teenager to flee guerrilla war-torn El Salvador.

The bishop has also been critical of increased immigration enforcement measures, calling them a human rights concern and responding directly to critiques of the church from fellow Catholics in the Trump administration like border czar Thomas Homan.

After commentary piled up on social media Friday, Wheeling diocese spokesman Tim Bishop told Fox News Digital Menjivar-Ayala’s appointment is a blessing to West Virginians, praising the clergyman’s pastoral work and service.

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“Bishop Evelio came [to America] some time ago looking for a better life and better opportunities, and thank God he did because he will shepherd the faith of our diocese,” Bishop said.

“Any insinuation that the Holy Father made this or any other appointment in any way to increase vitriol or insinuate that it gets back at the president of the United States is absurd,” Bishop added, noting he was not speaking for Leo.

The Roman Catholic Church “worries about the lamb, not the elephant or the donkey,” he said.

Meanwhile, “Letters from Leo” publisher and former DNC delegate Christopher Hale tweeted the bishop is a “remarkable choice” by Leo to lead a “state that is over 90% White and voted for President Trump by 42 points.”

Media outlets in the United States and France highlighted the appointment in light of Leo’s reported aversion to Trump’s immigration enforcement policies.

At a 2025 forum, Menjivar-Ayala said criticism of the Catholic Church’s stance toward immigration enforcement is not a question for him to answer but for those officials to discern how they are living the Gospel after he was asked about Homan’s comments that bishops at a national conference in Baltimore were “wrong” in rebuking illegal immigration enforcement.

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“The question is for them, for those who claim to be Catholic but are not seeing the face of Christ in the migrants,” Menjivar-Ayala said, according to World Catholic Report, which also said the newly minted West Virginian advised caution about characterizing illegal immigration as similar to murder and theft.

Menjivar-Ayala tried as many as three times as a teenager to flee to the U.S. but was caught each time, including once by Mexican authorities who imprisoned him.

Amid guerrilla warfare and extreme poverty in his home country in the 1980s, Menjivar-Ayala was first deported to Guatemala by Mexican authorities who caught him in the border town of Tijuana, according to an interview with U.S. Catholic. He then attempted to travel through the Guatemalan jungle on a second attempt but returned home on his own.

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Finally, Menjivar-Ayala was successful after a bribe was paid to secure his release from a Mexican prison in Chiapas, and an elderly American smuggled him and three others through the San Ysidro border checkpoint while they were crammed in the trunk of the man’s car, according to The Washington Post.

Menjivar-Ayala told U.S. Catholic he found odd janitorial jobs but eventually relocated to Hyattsville, Maryland, near extended family, where he cleaned a UPS site.

It was there in Prince George’s County where he first began working as a youth minister and was able to obtain a green card for legal residence through what he said was an extant religious visa policy.

The Washington Post characterized Leo’s move Friday as another effort to “elevate” American clergy relevant to tension points with the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump has lambasted Leo — born Robert Prevost in Illinois — and quipped that he much prefers his “brother [Louis who] is MAGA all the way.”

Trump has said he has “nothing against” Leo, who has a right to disagree on subjects like the legitimacy and human rights aspects of the Iran conflict and illegal immigration crisis.

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In 2025, Menjivar-Ayala criticized Trump’s immigration enforcement push in a Catholic Standard column, “This Ordeal is the Passion,” which featured an image of a suspect being detained by federal authorities.

“The Church remembers Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus in a spiritual and sacramental way during Holy Week and the Easter Triduum, but some people actually experience the Passion in a tangible and personal way in their very lives. Among them are members of the immigrant and refugee communities today,” Menjivar-Ayala wrote, referring to the Passion of Christ, Jesus’ crucifixion, death and resurrection.

“Yet, while redemptive suffering is a grace, it would be better still if these injustices and infamies did not happen at all,” the bishop later added, calling for people to speak up in the style of martyred St. Oscar Romero.

He went on to say that the “dark side of anti-immigrant animus” cannot be allowed to take hold and called some recent enforcement behavior a “violation of fundamental human rights,” while also appearing to reference actions taken against the Catholic Church in that regard.

Trump’s Department of Health & Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement recently canceled an $11 million contract with Catholic Charities of Miami that had aided in housing unaccompanied minors, according to the Miami Herald.

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While Trump has not yet been able to meet with Leo, the first American pope has held audiences with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Obama confidant David Axelrod.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Vatican, White House and DHS for additional comment.