The latest survey, conducted in January, found that 44 percent of white Catholics approve of President Trump’s job performance.

U.S. and Mexican bishops urged “the administration to reverse this policy, which needlessly increases the suffering of the most vulnerable and violates international protocols.”

“The historical and practical importance of this ruling cannot be overstated,” according to the deputy director of the A.C.L.U.’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.

To Bishop Mark Seitz the real emergency is humanitarian—a matter of deciding how best to care for the people coming to the border. “That should concern us,” he said. “This is a group of very vulnerable people.”

President Donald Trump told the National Prayer Breakfast that his administration would defend the right of faith-based adoption agencies to place children in families based on firmly held religious beliefs.

In his 82-minute address, President Trump devoted much of his time to attacks on illegal immigration, but he also called for a ban on late-term abortion and for family leave legislation.