WASHINGTON (OSV News) — President Donald Trump expressed frustration with Russian attacks on Ukraine as he seeks a peace deal to end the conflict.
The same week, the Archdiocese of Miami said one of its immigrant priests was wrongfully detained and was later released by immigration officials, and Vice President JD Vance was questioned on the administration’s plans for men and women experiencing homelessness in the nation’s capital city.
— Peace deal in Russia, Ukraine conflict still elusive after key summits
A week after Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska — followed by a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and a delegation of European leaders in Washington — questions remain about Trump’s ability to meet his stated goal of ending the conflict sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
After that meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the talks “a road to nowhere,” and Russia continued to carry out attacks on Ukraine.
“Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all,” Lavrov told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker.
The latest attacks appeared to prompt Trump to suggest on social media that Ukraine should carry out more offensive military operations.
“It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country. It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offensive. There is no chance of winning!” Trump wrote on his social media website Truth Social.
In an Aug. 19 phone interview on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” Trump seemed to suggest resolving the conflict would have a spiritual element for him.
“I wanna end it. You know, we’re not losing American lives … we’re losing Russian and Ukrainian mostly soldiers,” Trump said. “I wanna try and get to heaven if possible. I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
— Miami priest on religious worker visa wrongfully detained, archdiocese says
The Archdiocese of Miami said Aug. 19 that one of its priests lawfully present in the U.S. on a religious worker visa was wrongfully detained and later released by immigration authorities.
“On Tuesday, August 19, 2025, Father Gustavo Santos, a priest of the Archdiocese of Miami in good standing and with a valid R-1 religious worker visa through November 2025, was unexpectedly and wrongfully denied admission into the United States upon his return from an overseas trip via London,” the statement said.
“Through the swift intervention of Archbishop Thomas Wenski and the efforts of immigration counsel from Catholic Legal Services Pro bono (counsel) Mary Kramer and Jose W. Alvarez, the matter was brought before a federal judge,” it added. “As a result, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reconsidered the case, and Father Santos has since been released and allowed to reenter the country.”
“We are grateful for the prompt resolution and welcome Father Santos back to his ministry in the Archdiocese,” the statement added.
OSV News has requested an interview with Father Santos about his experience.
The archdiocese’s statement comes as immigrant religious workers more broadly are facing legal limbo, and Catholic advocates are pushing the Trump administration to address the backlog in their visa category.
Catholic priests and nuns are among the immigrant religious workers permitted in some cases to legally enter the country on R-1 non-immigrant religious worker visas. These visas are initially granted for a 30-month period, with one possible renewal allowing for a total of 5 years, so they can be in the U.S. to carry out ministry work. While within that window, they can apply for employment-based EB-4 status so they can legally remain in the U.S. without interruption.
However, a limited number of green cards has led to a backlog for these workers. But a bipartisan piece of legislation aims to address this, and Catholic advocates are asking the Trump administration to support it.
— Kilmar Abrego Garcia released from jail after court found deportation to El Salvador jail unlawful
Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man at the center of a high-profile immigration case, was released from jail Aug. 22, more than five months after his arrest and deportation to a notorious prison in El Salvador that U.S. courts later found unlawful.
Although the government acknowledged in court filings that there was an administrative error in deporting Abrego Garcia to a prison in El Salvador, the Trump administration said it was not seeking his return to the U.S. Abrego Garcia, who is married to a U.S. citizen and has a 5-year-old child, has not been charged with nor convicted of a crime. He is a Salvadoran national.
“Today, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is free,” his attorney, Sean Hecker, said in a statement. “He is presently en route to his family in Maryland, after being unlawfully arrested and deported, and then imprisoned, all because of the government’s vindictive attack on a man who had the courage to fight back against the Administration’s continuing assault on the rule of law. He is grateful that his access to American courts has provided meaningful due process.”
The Trump administration has alleged Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 gang member, but his lawyers have said there is no evidence he is in that gang.
— Vance doesn’t provide clarity on Trump administration’s plan for DC homelessness
During a visit to Georgia Aug. 21 to tout the recent passage of key parts of Trump’s legislative agenda, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, CNN reported Vance did not answer a question about where the men and women experiencing homelessness would be sent after their encampments in the District of Columbia were cleared.
“The question betrays a certain misunderstanding of what we’re trying to do and what is the nature of real compassion,” Vance said.
“Why have we convinced ourselves that it’s compassionate to allow a person who’s obviously a schizophrenic, or suffering from some other mental illness, why is it compassionate to let that person fester in the streets?” Vance added.
When he announced his federalization of the police force in Washington earlier in August, Trump said that he would take “historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse.”
Trump also said in a social media post, “The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital.”
The announcement prompted concern from groups that minister to men and women experiencing homelessness in the nation’s capital.
— Judge issues order shutting down ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
A federal judge on Aug. 21 ordered that no more immigrant detainees be sent to Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz,” the migrant detention facility known for its deliberate placement within the inhospitable environment of Florida’s Everglades, citing environmental harms.
Judge Kathleen M. Williams of the U.S. District Court in Miami issued the preliminary injunction in a federal lawsuit filed by environmental groups and a Native American tribe arguing state officials did not adequately consider the Everglades ecological system.
“The project creates irreparable harm in the form of habitat loss and increased mortality to endangered species in the area,” Williams wrote in the order.
Williams gave the state of Florida and the federal government 60 days to dismantle the detention center. Florida immediately filed a notice with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit that it will appeal the ruling.
Catholic leaders have expressed concern about reports of inhumane conditions at the facility, and Florida’s senior bishop had to press officials to provide Catholic ministry including the sacraments to detainees.
Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.
