President Donald Trump is increasingly making moves that even his subservient followers in the GOP cannot abide, and according to a new report from The i Paper, his latest blunder involves the detention of a beloved Catholic nun.
Republicans in Washington have largely gone along and supported Trump’s mass deportation agenda, even as innocent immigrants and lawful U.S. citizens have gotten swept up in the process, souring public sentiment. Now, his ICE agents have detained a Catholic nun, Sister Leticia “Letty” Ugboaja, prompting even conservatives to lash out against the president’s handling of his immigration agenda.
The i Paper detailed the arrest of the nun, described as a “well-known source of goodness,” in a report from Saturday.
“Sister Leticia Ugboaja, known as Letty, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials while walking to a service at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in southern Texas, near the Mexican border,” the outlet detailed. “The Washington Post reported that officers confiscated her rosary and put her into handcuffs. The church confirmed the Nigerian nun, who was dressed in her habit at the time, had been taken into custody before the story quickly spread beyond the local community after it was shared on social media.”
The report continued: “The backlash was swift and unusually bipartisan. Democrats and Republicans, including South Texas Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz, intervened directly with federal officials to secure her release. By Monday, following intervention from De La Cruz and other members of Congress, Sister Letty had returned home.”
Church spokesperson Brenda Riojas confirmed to the media that she volunteers her time as an “extraordinary minister of holy communion” at Our Lady of Sorrows, and stressed that she had entered the U.S. legally. Bishop Daniel Flores also added in an official statement that Sister Letty “is a well-known source of goodness and hope in our community, and I am grateful she has been released”.
Trump’s newly appointed DHS Secretary, Markwayne Mullin, was quick to address the situation, saying in his own statement that “As I have repeatedly said, our immigration enforcement should target violent criminals. A Catholic nun on her way to church is not a threat to our community.” He was far from the only conservative voice to speak out.
“The arrest of a Catholic nun by US immigration agents has become the latest flashpoint exposing growing unease among Republican politicians, with several moving swiftly to distance themselves from an administration whose hardline immigration agenda they have long supported,” The i Paper noted. “The backlash has fuelled a wider debate over whether Trump’s political grip on his own party is beginning to loosen.”
It continued: “With midterm elections looming and primary contests now largely concluded across much of the country, political analysts say many Republicans are making increasingly pragmatic electoral calculations. Free from the immediate threat of being challenged by Trump-backed primary opponents, some lawmakers are becoming more willing to criticise the President publicly on issues where they believe he has drifted away from public opinion.”