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France’s Lafarge Pleads Guilty to Aiding Terrorists

Eastern District of New York US Attorney Breon Peace speaks during a press conference after the verdict against Lafarge (AFP/Getty Images)
Eastern District of New York US Attorney Breon Peace speaks during a press conference after the verdict against Lafarge (AFP/Getty Images)
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France’s Lafarge Pleads Guilty to Aiding Terrorists

Eastern District of New York US Attorney Breon Peace speaks during a press conference after the verdict against Lafarge (AFP/Getty Images)
Eastern District of New York US Attorney Breon Peace speaks during a press conference after the verdict against Lafarge (AFP/Getty Images)

French cement maker Lafarge, part of the Swiss-listed Holcim, has pleaded guilty in a US court to the charges of providing support to terrorist organizations, including ISIS, during the war in Syria.

Lafarge agreed to pay $778 million in forfeiture and fines as part of the plea agreement to the US Department of Justice.

The two companies issued a statement saying that Lafarge SA and Lafarge Cement Syria have accepted responsibility for the actions of the individual executives involved, whose behavior was in flagrant violation of Lafarge’s Code of Conduct.

The firm admitted to paying material support to ISIS from August 2013 to October 2014 so its plant in Syria could remain open.

Reuters reported that the admission in Brooklyn federal court marked the first time a company has pleaded guilty in the US to charges of providing material support to a terrorist organization.

Lafarge is also facing accusations in Paris of complicity in crimes against humanity.

Lafarge agreed to forfeit $687 million and pay a fine of $90 million as part of an admission of guilt. The total penalty to be paid by the company is $778 million.

Previously, the cement maker admitted after an internal investigation that its affiliate company in Syria had paid groups to help protect factory workers but denied charges that it was complicit in crimes against humanity.

Holcim said that the events related to the Lafarge factory in Syria contradict its values and that these events were concealed from its board of directors at the time of the merger in 2015.

In 2017, human rights organizations in France accused Lafarge of paying $12.79 million to armed groups, including ISIS, to continue operating in Syria between 2011 and 2015.

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Pope Francis Calls Trump’s Plans of Mass Deportation of Immigrants a ‘Disgrace’ 

A handout picture provided by the Vatican Media shows Pope Francis leading the Angelus prayer, traditional Sunday's prayer, from the window of his office overlooking Saint Peter's Square, in Vatican City, 19 January 2025. (Vatican Media Handout/EPA)
A handout picture provided by the Vatican Media shows Pope Francis leading the Angelus prayer, traditional Sunday's prayer, from the window of his office overlooking Saint Peter's Square, in Vatican City, 19 January 2025. (Vatican Media Handout/EPA)
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Pope Francis Calls Trump’s Plans of Mass Deportation of Immigrants a ‘Disgrace’ 

A handout picture provided by the Vatican Media shows Pope Francis leading the Angelus prayer, traditional Sunday's prayer, from the window of his office overlooking Saint Peter's Square, in Vatican City, 19 January 2025. (Vatican Media Handout/EPA)
A handout picture provided by the Vatican Media shows Pope Francis leading the Angelus prayer, traditional Sunday's prayer, from the window of his office overlooking Saint Peter's Square, in Vatican City, 19 January 2025. (Vatican Media Handout/EPA)

Pope Francis said Donald Trump’s plans to impose mass deportations of immigrants would be a “disgrace,” as he weighed in on the incoming US president’s pledges nearly a decade after calling him “not Christian” for wanting to build a wall along the US-Mexican border.

History’s first Latin American pope was asked about the Trump administration pledges of deportations during an appearance Sunday night on a popular Italian talk show, Che Tempo Che Fa.

“If true, this will be a disgrace, because it makes the poor wretches who have nothing pay the bill” for the problem, Francis said. “This won’t do! This is not the way to solve things. That’s not how things are resolved.”

Trump, who is being sworn in on Monday, made mass deportations a signature issue of his campaign and has promised a raft of first-day orders to remake immigration policy.

During his first campaign for the presidency, in 2016, Francis was asked about Trump’s plans to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. Speaking after he celebrated Mass along the border, Francis famously said anyone who builds a wall to keep out migrants is “not Christian.”

Many US bishops have firmly opposed Trump’s deportation plan, with the incoming archbishop of Washington DC, Cardinal Robert McElroy, saying such policies were “incompatible with Catholic doctrine.” It was a reference to the Biblical call to “welcome the stranger.”

Another cardinal close to Francis, Chicago Cardinal Blasé Cupich, said the reports of mass deportations targeting the Chicago area “are not only profoundly disturbing but also wound us deeply.”

In a statement delivered from the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City on Sunday, Cupich said governments have the responsibility to protect borders and communities.

“But we also are committed to defending the rights of all people, and protecting their human dignity,” according to the text of his statement.

Francis, who grew up in Argentina in a family of Italian immigrants, has long prioritized the plight of migrants and called for governments to welcome, protect and integrate them, within their means. He has said the dignity and rights of migrants trump any national security concerns.