Thousands Sign Christian Petition Accusing JD Vance of Going Against Jesus

A petition created by a frequently anti-Trump Christian group that accuses Vice President JD Vance of going against Jesus for his comments that promote the immigration policies of President Donald Trump's administration has over 19,000 signatures, close to its goal of 20,000 signatures.

Newsweek reached out to Vance's office via email for comment on Thursday.

Why It Matters

The Trump administration's immigration policies, mainly the mass deportation of people living in the United States illegally, have garnered a lot of attention around the world, including from Pope Francis and other followers of Christianity.

Trump made immigration a central theme of his presidential campaign and Americans largely support his plans to execute mass deportations of illegal immigrants. Nearly 70 percent of Americans identify as Christian.

A New York Times/Ipsos poll, carried out from January 2 to 10, found 55 percent of voters strongly or somewhat supported such plans. Eighty-eight percent supported "Deporting immigrants who are here illegally and have criminal records." Large majorities of Democrats and Republicans agreed that the immigration system is broken.

On Tuesday, Pope Francis issued a forceful condemnation of Trump's mass deportation policy, warning in a letter to American bishops that expelling migrants solely on the basis of their immigration status strips them of their dignity and "will end badly."

What To Know

Last week, Faithful America, an organization of Christians supporting social justice causes, posted a petition on its website calling on Vance, a practicing Catholic, to "show mercy, grace, and compassion to our immigrant neighbors and adopt policies that honor their inherent dignity and humanity."

The petition referenced comments that Vance had recently made on television when responding to backlash about the Trump administration's immigration policies.

What Did JD Vance Say?

Speaking to CBS' Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation late last month, Vance accused the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) of having "not been a good partner in common sense immigration enforcement" after the conference spoke out against the Trump administration's rescission of a long-standing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy that prevented agents from making arrests in or near "sensitive" areas, such as churches.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity that aired late last month, Vance said, "There's this old school—and I think it's a very Christian concept by the way—that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that."

What Does The Petition Say?

Faithful America's petition read as follows:

Dear Vice President J.D. Vance,

We are greatly disturbed by your statements on CBS and Fox News that criticized Catholics and other ecumenical Christians seeking to show compassion, mercy and grace to the vulnerable. You claimed that it is Christian to "love your family and then you love your neighbor."

You are bearing false witness against Jesus himself who clearly commands us to love our neighbor as ourself, to welcome the stranger, and to lay down our life for our friends.

Even as you spread these lies about who Christians are called to love, President Trump is turning the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba into a mass detention center for migrants reminiscent of the internment camps of WWII.

We will not be silent and obedient while you and President Trump continue to commit atrocities in the name of our faith.

We ask that you do as Jesus commands and show mercy, grace, and compassion to our immigrant neighbors and adopt policies that honor their inherent dignity and humanity.

Thank you.

What People Are Saying

Pope Francis wrote in the letter to American bishops on Tuesday: "The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness."

The pope also took issue with Vance's interpretation of ordo amoris, or "order of love," warning against a nationalistic distortion of Christian values.

"Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups. The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the 'Good Samaritan'—the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception," he wrote.

What Happens Next

As the Trump administration continues to crack down on illegal immigration, Guantánamo Bay, a U.S. naval base in Cuba that has been used to detain suspected terrorists after the 9/11 attacks on America, is now being used to house what administration officials described as criminal migrants. However, the migrants' criminal records, or lack thereof, have been called into question as the Trump administration remains tight-lipped about the identities of the detainees.