In his first interview with a television network since the election, US President-elect Donald Trump said that in his first 100 days in office he would focus on immigration, as well as enacting tax cuts and tariffs.
During his interview Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” the president-elect reaffirmed his support for fertilization in vitro (IVF), a fertility procedure that the Catholic Church opposes because it destroys embryonic life and separates conception from marriage. Trump also said he would “probably” not restrict the abortion pill, although he refused to commit to that, noting that “things change.”
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Immigration
Trump promised that the first thing he would do would be to address the border problem, starting with criminals who are in the United States illegally. He told NBC that he would start “quickly” with criminals who are in the country illegally, such as Venezuelan gang members and MS-13.
“We start with the criminals and we have to do it,” he said. “And then we’ll start with others and see how it turns out.”
When asked about deporting everyone who has been living in the country illegally for years, he said, “Well, I think they have to do it.”
“It is something very difficult to do, but you have to have rules, regulations, laws; they entered illegally,” Trump said.
He noted that this is unfair to people hoping to enter the country legally.
“We’re going to make it very easy for people to come in, in terms of they have to pass the test,” Trump said. “They have to be able to tell you what the Statue of Liberty is. They have to tell you a little about our country. “They have to love our country.”
When asked about families with mixed immigration status, Trump said he would not break up families, saying families could be deported together if they choose.
“I don’t want to break up families, so the only way to not break up the family is to keep them together and have to send them all back,” he said.
“We have to do our job,” Trump continued. “You have to have a series of rules and a series of laws.”
Trump also pledged to end birthright citizenship for the children of immigrants.
When asked if his plan violates the 14th Amendment’s guarantee that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state in which they reside,” Trump said that You may have to turn to “the people,” but “we have to put an end to it.”
Trump also pledged to “work with Democrats on a plan” to help “Dreamers” (immigrants who came to the country illegally as children) stay in the country, and noted that Republicans are “very open” to doing so. .
The US bishops in November urged the US government to reform the immigration system with “fair and humane treatment” of immigrants. The statement called for a system that “provides permanent relief to childhood arrivals, helps families stay together, and welcomes refugees,” while “keeping our borders safe and secure.”
Fertilization in vitro
During his campaign, Trump promised fertilization in vitro (IVF) free, either through the government or insurance companies. In the interview, Trump reaffirmed his support for the treatment and called himself “the father of IVF in a way.”
Trump cited his involvement in the Alabama IVF controversy earlier this year, in which he expressed support for IVF. After the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen human embryos constitute children under state law, Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed a law which grants immunity to clinics when they “harm” or cause “death” of human embryonic life in the process of providing fertilization fertility treatments in vitro (IVF) to women.
Trump noted that in response to the court’s decision, he issued “a statement from the Republican Party that we are all for IVF.”
“The Alabama Legislature met the next day and passed it,” he said. “It was a beautiful thing to see.”
But when asked where IVF was on his list of priorities, Trump noted that “we have a lot of other things.”
“Let’s talk about it,” he said about fertilization in vitro. “We will present the extension of the tax cuts to Congress in the first or second package. So that could well be there, or it will come sometime after that.”
The Catholic Church has long opposed IVF as one of the “morally reprehensible” techniques due to the rejection of the natural procreative act of husband and wife, the commodification of the human child, and the destruction of embryonic human life, which is very common in the procedure.
He Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that, while “research attempting to reduce human sterility should be encouraged” (n. 2375), practices such as fertilization in vitro “they dissociate the sexual act from the procreative act,” and the act “entrusts the life and identity of the embryo to the power of doctors and biologists” (n. 2377).
abortion pills
Trump reaffirmed that he would not restrict abortion pills, although he refused to commit to the position, pointing that things sometimes change.
Asked if he would restrict abortion pills, Trump said: “I’m probably going to stick with exactly what I’ve been saying for the last two years, and the answer is no.”
When asked if he was committed to that statement, Trump noted that “things change, but I don’t think they’re going to change at all.”
Medical or chemical abortions, abortions obtained through a two-pill regimen, accounted for 70% of abortions in the United States in 2022, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
During the presidential campaign, Trump was criticized for defenders provided for his position that abortion law should be left to the states to decide. In June, he said he agreed with the Supreme Court’s ruling on the abortion pill, saying, “I agree with their decision to have done that, and I won’t block it.”
The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is “gravely contrary to the moral law” and that “life must be protected with the utmost care from conception” (Catechism, n. 2271).
Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.
Kate Quinones
Kate Quiñones is a staff writer for Catholic News Agency and a member of College Fix. He has publications in the Wall Street Journal, the Denver Catholic Register and CatholicVote. He graduated from Hillsdale College. She lives in Colorado with her husband.