ISTANBUL 

Pope Francis on Monday criticized US President Donald Trump’s program for the mass deportations of illegal immigrants.

“The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality,” Francis said in a letter, underlining that he is watching the “major crisis” in the US over the deportations.

Acknowledging a country’s right to protect its communities from individuals who have committed violent or serious crimes, the pontiff added: “That said, 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.”

“What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly,” he added, urging against giving into narratives “that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering” to migrants and refugees.

From his first day in office on Jan. 20, Trump has signed executive orders aimed at expelling large numbers of illegal immigrants, including measures to end birthright citizenship. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has since intensified arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants.