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Pope Leo XIV, the first pope born in the United States, and Zohran Mamdani, the first Muslim mayor of the country’s most populous city, have sent messages urging immigrants to recognize 250 years of US independence.
Friday’s repeated remarks came a day before July 4th celebrations on Independence Day, which take place on Memorial Day. the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
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While neither Pope Leo nor the mayor of New York mentioned Trump, their comments represent a clear criticism of the president and his immigration policies.
In a video broadcast from the Vatican to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Pope Leo praised the immigrants who shape the US.
He also called on the US to return to its founding principles and recognize the dignity of the person, regardless of borders.
“In the last 250 years, for many people around the world, it was the determination to fulfill the ideal vision of the founders that made America the voice of freedom, as the country opened its doors to a succession of immigrants,” said the Chicago-born Pope.
Leo has previously criticized the Trump administration’s policies as “brutal”.
But in a speech on Friday, the largest so far in the US, he called for “a common public discourse, respect for the opinions of others and constant efforts to find common ground”.
“This historic day gives us an opportunity to reflect on the values that this country was founded on, with the hope that America will remain true to the dreams that gave it its name of freedom and home of the brave,” Leo said.
Mamdani, meanwhile, gave a video talk surrounded by the newly born citizens of New York City, a city of about 9 million people where more than 200 different languages are spoken.
The mayor himself is a permanent citizen, as in 2018. He encouraged the audience to resist the “powerful” powers that he believes in a country where “a select few are allowed freedom, where not all are created equal”.
“When you ask America, they are less, most people accept. America, they will tell you that it is for people with the right accent or the right skin,” said Mamdani.
“The rest of us, they insist, should be grateful for being allowed to visit them.
The statement comes after Mamdani’s followers were not found amazing victories in the Democratic primaries in New York, moving on to the midterm elections in November.
The victory has confirmed the mayor’s new found political power and has shown that the Democratic Party is on the left.
Fighting Trump
The two speeches are the latest entry into a long-running debate over what values should define the US.
Some have criticized the country’s diversity, pointing to images of the US as a melting pot or images of different cultures.
The Trump administration, on the other hand, has rejected the phrase “diversity, equality, and inclusion”, saying it takes away from the country’s dignity.
One of Trump’s top advisers, Stephen Miller, highlighted the president’s hard-line approach to immigration, a defining feature of his first and second terms.
Miller has been a vocal critic of the current immigration system and has repeatedly said that the US immigration system is a threat to the country.
During Trump’s second term, Miller led the push to restrict nearly all forms of immigration, including legal channels such as immigration, asylum applications and temporary visas, and reintroduced mass deportations.
As part of his efforts to curb immigration, Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term to end citizenship, which grants citizenship to nearly all children born in the US.
Opponents warned that ending citizenship would not only violate the United States constitution but also leave some children without rights.
But Miller called the long-standing practice “self-destruction of the country”, making the children of immigrants a national waste.
Just days before the 250th anniversary, the US Supreme Court ruled Trump’s order unconstitutional.
But the Supreme Court has upheld some aspects of Trump’s immigration platform. On June 25, it ruled that immigration officials can block asylum seekers from moving to US soil, preventing them from submitting asylum applications to the US.
After the decision, Miller announced that “the doors of America are closed, completely, to those seeking asylum”.
Trump traveled to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota on Friday, where he is scheduled to deliver one of several speeches commemorating the 250th anniversary of the United States.
He is scheduled to speak at 10:30 pm Eastern US time on Friday (02:30 GMT Saturday), with another speech scheduled for 9:45 pm Saturday (01:45 GMT Sunday) in Washington, DC.
