ORLANDO (RNS) — The head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops offered a thinly veiled critique on Thursday (June 15) of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and others who have transported immigrants out of Republican-run border states to Democratic strongholds, calling the practice “problematic.”

During a press conference at the spring gathering of the USCCB in Orlando, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, head of the USCCB as well as the Archdiocese for the Military Services, was asked by a reporter about Republican governors transporting migrants from states such as Texas to places such as California.

“I suppose if they’re transporting them to make a statement, then that seems to me to be problematic,” Broglio responded. “If you’re transporting them because those other states might be better able to respond to the immediate needs, well, then, that might be a way of responding to the problem. However, I suspect that it’s more to make a statement.”

Broglio added, “That would be the judgment on my part, which I’m really not necessarily capable of making.”

The remarks come in the wake of news that Florida paid to transport 36 mostly Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Sacramento earlier this month. According to the Associated Press, recruiters working for DeSantis, who is Catholic, targeted a Catholic Church in Texas — Sacred Heart Catholic Church in El Paso — to find asylum-seekers to fly to California on jets paid for by taxpayers.

Migrants wake up at the sidewalk outside Sacred Heart Church in downtown El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday, May 9, 2023. As confusion over border rules explodes in El Paso, one of the busiest illegal crossing points for migrants seeking to flee poverty and political strife, faith leaders continue to provide shelter, legal advice and prayer. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

The revelation triggered a rebuke from Bishop Mark Seitz, who oversees the Diocese of El Paso.

“Without going into the details of the politics of it, it does seem clear that they were being used not out of concern for the migrants but in an effort to make a political point,” Seitz told the Associated Press.

DeSantis claimed migrants voluntarily made the trip and signed waivers, but others, including California officials, have claimed the migrants were coerced.

In a separate interview on Thursday with Religion News Service, Seitz said Catholic staffers who work with immigrants in his diocese now warn migrants to be wary of recruiters like those linked to DeSantis. He said he sees “parallels” between the actions of Florida governor and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and human traffickers who prey on migrants, sometimes referred to as coyotes.

“In the past, we’ve had to tell them, ‘Beware of the coyotes.’ Now we’re having to say, ‘Beware of these people who will make you promises to take you someplace,’” Seitz said.

The bishop said he was troubled by the fact that DeSantis and Abbott, who is also Catholic, have participated in these acts while also invoking their faith in political contexts.

Bishop Mark Seitz at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting in Orlando, Florida, Thursday, June 15, 2023. RNS photo by Jack Jenkins

“When a person claims to be a Catholic, we assume that they are going to try and live according to Catholic teachings and Catholic principles,” Seitz said. “It is disturbing when they behave in a manner that really doesn’t respect these fundamental — really, gospel — principles, about the love of neighbor, the welcoming of the stranger, the care for those who are in need.”

Seitz was also critical of rhetoric that focused on immigrants as a potential threat, saying the framing falsely promotes the idea that “it’s almost as though we have numbers appear at our border, not people.”

He pointed to reports, which broke just hours earlier, that Abbott bused more than 40 migrants to Los Angeles on Thursday.

“He has to keep up with DeSantis,” he said.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted the practice and implicitly challenged DeSantis’ faith, telling Fox News in an interview, “What kind of faith tradition allows for this dehumanization?”

Representatives for DeSantis’ campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The transporting of migrants has been spearheaded by Abbott as well as former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey until he left office. DeSantis has also frequently played a role: Last September, the Florida governor sent two planeloads of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, where they were taken in by a small Episcopal church. Lawyers representing 30 of those who were sent claimed the migrants were tricked by misleading brochures.

FILE – Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a campaign event, Tuesday, May 30, 2023, in Clive, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

Faith leaders, including Catholic bishops, have repeatedly condemned the governor’s actions. In September, Bishop Daniel E. Flores of the Diocese of Brownsville condemned the practice, accusing governors of treating migrants “like pawns in games of political showmanship.”

Meanwhile, DeSantis — who has fronted religion in his campaigns — has feuded with Catholic bishops in the past regarding immigration. Earlier this year, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami decried a proposal to make it a felony to knowingly provide transportation to an undocumented immigrant — a bill supported by DeSantis — as a “punitive” measure that seeks to criminalize “empathy.”