Pope Leo XIV uses America's 250th anniversary to push for migrant rights as Trump warns of 'threats to US identity'
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Pope Leo XIV uses America's 250th anniversary to push for migrant rights as Trump warns of 'threats to US identity'")
US President Donald Trump delivers remarks during the Independence Day events at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in Keystone, South Dakota, July 3, 2026. Inset: Pope Leo XIV Photograph: (Combination created using images from AFP)
Is America a nation strengthened by immigrants or a country whose identity is under threat? As the US marks its 250th anniversary, Pope Leo XIV and President Donald Trump have offered sharply different answers. Scroll down.
Two starkly different visions for the United States emerged as the nation marks its 250th anniversary. Speaking on the eve of Independence Day, US President Donald Trump used a high-profile address at Mount Rushmore to warn that American identity is under internal assault, while Pope Leo XIV—the first American-born pontiff—issued a pointed call reminding the country that its greatness was built by immigrants.
A message of compassion from the Vatican
In an official letter released Friday (Jul 3) ahead of the July 4th milestone, Pope Leo XIV celebrated America's foundational promise of liberty and democracy. However, the Chicago-born pontiff explicitly tied those historical ideals to the modern, highly polarised debate over immigration.
"Defending human life also includes welcoming, protecting, and assisting immigrants," Pope Leo wrote, challenging the tightening border restrictions that have defined the current US political landscape.
The Pope argued that generations of newcomers fleeing hardship have consistently enriched, rather than diminished, the American character. He added that welcoming them with generosity is a fundamental "recognition of the dignity that belongs to every human person".
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Trump warns of attack on US identity
Hours after the Vatican's letter, President Trump delivered an address at Mount Rushmore, standing beneath the monuments of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. He framed the 250th anniversary not just as a celebration, but as a defence of the nation's heritage against domestic "radicals and extremists".
Also read | US Independence Day 2026: What is Semiquincentennial? Meaning behind America's 250th anniversary
"As we approach this magnificent anniversary, we see our American identity under a renewed attack," Trump told the crowd, warning of a resurgence of extreme ideologies threatening the country's exceptionalism.
"In recent years, there's been an undeniable attempt to change this exceptional character, to beat the American spirit out of us, alienate us from our history," he said
While Trump moderated some of his harsher rhetoric for the anniversary crowd, he insisted: "You do not have to be born here, but you do have to love what we have built."
