Catholic diocese tries to stop Trump's border wall that 'desecrates' 29-foot tall Jesus statue

Source: The Independent

Sunday 21 June 2026 19:19 EDT


A Catholic diocese in New Mexico is waging a legal holy war against the Trump administration's plan to use 14 acres of church land for a new border wall — saying the plan would desecrate a 25-foot-tall, mountaintop statue of Jesus nearby. In court papers filed Friday, lawyers for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces said the church would fight the administration in court before it “surrenders even a square inch of its sacred land.”

“The law, including cases cited by the Government, is clear that the Diocese is allowed to present its defenses before the Government possesses and irreparably desecrates the holy site at Mount Cristo Rey,” they wrote. “This Court should not bless this affront to religious liberty.”

The court filing also called President Donald Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall a “physical manifestation of this Government’s attitude toward migrants,” adding that “nothing could be less Catholic.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which is trying to seize the property through eminent domain, told The Independent on Sunday that “anyone who spent [30] seconds examining a map of Mount Cristo Rey and the southern border would realize how ludicrous these claims are.”

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-border-wall-mexico-jesus-statue-b3000023.html