(OSV News) — An ecumenical group of Minnesota clergy, including a Jesuit priest, filed a lawsuit Feb. 23 against the Department of Homeland Security over being barred from giving spiritual care to those being detained at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in the Twin Cities area.
The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota states, “By prohibiting faith leaders from providing essential pastoral care to individuals in ICE detention, the federal government unconstitutionally obstructs their sacred obligation to exercise their faith through ministry to community members in the greatest need of spiritual comfort.”
Right to practice religious freely
Claimants said their First Amendment right to practice religion freely and rights under the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act were violated. They have sought an injunction against being barred by the federal government and said their inability to minister under these rights has caused “irreparable injury.”
The filing lists instances in December, January and February when faith leaders of the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Minnesota Conference of the United Church of Christ and Jesuit Father Chris Collins, parochial administrator of St. Peter Claver Catholic Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, tried to provide pastoral care in the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building but they were stopped.
‘Swept up and taken’ to ICE facility
Father Collins told OSV News that on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Dec. 12, he, “an auxiliary bishop and a group of parishioners” from various locations had learned about a Catholic school student whose mother had been “swept up and taken” to the ICE facility in the Whipple building.
“(It was) kind of a spontaneous prayer service that we had put together at the courthouse and we were going to try to do it in the courthouse. We weren’t organized or anything. So at that point, they actually not only didn’t let us go into the building, but wouldn’t even let us on the property and pushed us across the street,” said Father Collins.
The federal government in early December began its targeted deployment of several thousand ICE agents to pursue people without legal authorization to remain in the country in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, known as “Operation Metro Surge.” Two people were shot and killed by ICE agents in separate incidents and multiple violent clashes between protesters and federal agents ensued, with federal officials announcing scaling back and troop drawdowns in mid-February.
A ‘chaotic’ and ‘lawless’ time
Father Collins said in this “chaotic” and “lawless” time, he could “only imagine how terrifying these moments have been” for those being picked up and detained as well as their family members.
“We want to be there, for people especially at the most vulnerable times of their lives, and this is certainly one of them,” he said. “It’s one instance of pretty poignantly vulnerable time. And there’s all kinds of different faith leaders of common desire here who want to show that humanity, really, and show the presence of the love of God.”
In the lawsuit, Father Collins is also listed as having attempted to enter Whipple Feb. 23, the day of its filing, to give pastoral care but he was denied.
Majority of detainees are Catholic
Eight in 10 migrants arrested in the immigration crackdown across the country are Christian, the majority of them Catholic, according to a joint Catholic-evangelical report published by World Relief.
The lawsuit names attempts by clergy from several Protestant denominations to distribute ashes on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18 at the facility that were blocked by federal agents citing safety concerns. (Immigrants have reportedly been held longer than the typical 12 hours or so for processing, according to the lawsuit).
Long history of religious acommodations
“The United States has a long history of accommodating such religious freedom and practice inside of prisons and jails, and there is no reason to deny them at Whipple, particularly where the vast majority of detainees have no criminal records,” said the filing.
DHS has not yet responded to a request for comment from OSV News.
In Chicago, the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership, three priests and a religious sister secured a federal District Court preliminary injunction to enter a west suburban ICE processing facility and give ashes and Communion on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18, after multiple requests to give spiritual care there were denied. They gave both to four detainees and three employees. Federal District Court Judge Robert Gettleman also ordered both sides to work out further pastoral visits.
Simone Orendain is an OSV News correspondent who writes from Chicago.
