Pope Francis sharply criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown in an unusual open letter to America's Catholic bishops on Tuesday, saying criminalising migrants and taking measures built on force "will end badly".

Pope Francis has issued a major rebuke to the Trump administration’s mass deportation of migrants. He warned that the program to forcefully deport people purely because of their illegal status deprives them of their inherent dignity and “will end badly.

The White House has reported that more than 8,000 people have been arrested in immigration enforcement actions since Trump took office on January 20.

Pope Francis took the remarkable step of addressing the U.S. migrant crackdown in a letter to the bishops of the United States.