Readers respond to the Right Rev. Mariann Budde’s message to President Donald Trump at Washington National Cathedral. Regarding the Jan. 22 Metro article “ At National Prayer Service, a plea to Trump: ‘Have mercy’ ”:

The president may not have approved of Mariann Edgar Budde's homily at the National Cathedral. But the bishop answered to a higher moral calling.

Mariann Budde on Tuesday at the inaugural prayer service held for President Trump. “The person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list,” Collins wrote in a post on X with a clip of Budde’s comments.

President Trump early Wednesday morning slammed the reverend at a National Cathedral prayer service for the inauguration who called on him to have mercy on transgender children and immigrant

Mexico was raising sprawling tents on the U.S. border Wednesday as it braced for President Donald Trump to fulfill his pledge to carry out mass deportations. (AP/Martín Silva Rey)

The new president was in Washington D.C. for church services Tuesday when Bishop Mariann Budde, born in New Jersey, asked Trump during the service to have “mercy” on undocumented immigrants and other marginal groups, which Trump has spoken critical of during his campaign.

President Donald Trump, left, watches as Rev. Mariann Budde, second right, arrives at the national prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) President Donald Trump,

New president furious over prayer service appeal for compassion and tells government departments to prepare to dismiss employees hired under diversity initiatives

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde called on President Trump to have mercy on transgender children and immigrant families at a National Cathedral prayer service for the inauguration Tuesday, which went viral and prompted the president to call her “nasty in tone” and “not compelling or smart.

A federal judge temporarily blocked President Trump’s executive order that aims to restrict automatic citizenship to babies born on U.S. soil, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional.” The order Mr. Trump signed on Monday was an effort to upend the nation’s immigration laws and reverse decades of precedent and would affect children born to undocumented or temporary immigrants.

The Pentagon is deploying up to 1,500 active duty troops to help secure the southern border in the coming days. The Department of Defense will also provide military aircraft to assist with deporting detained migrants from San Diego and El Paso.