Chicago clergy sue DHS over blocked access to immigrant facility
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A priest outside Broadview. Photo: Courtesy of Bryan Sebastian and the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership
A group of Chicago-area clergy is suing the Department of Homeland Security, saying it's violating their religious rights by blocking them from ministering inside an immigrant processing facility.
Why it matters: They argue the denials violate their constitutional and religious freedom rights, including the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, when DHS denied clergy entry to administer communion and provide spiritual guidance inside the Broadview ICE facility.
Catch up quick: A group known as the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL) has been continually turned away by DHS, with the department citing "safety and security concerns," despite years of clergy previously being allowed to enter.
- Earlier this month, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Axios that CSPL was not allowed at Broadview because it is a "field office" rather than a detention facility.
- McLaughlin said it was not "standard operating procedure for religious services to be provided in a field office, as detainees are continuously brought in, processed, and transferred out."
What they're saying: "Officials allege that it suddenly became too dangerous for clergy and women religious to visit the detention center," Father Dan Hartnett said in a statement.
- "But in reality the only danger was to their false claims about arresting the 'worst of the worst.'"
- Hartnett was referencing recent reports that only a small fraction of the hundred detained by ICE were considered a "high public safety risk" by DHS.
The other side: DHS did not respond to Axios' request for comment.
Between the lines: The complaint also describes DHS' "refusal to allow religious services that bring the Eucharist to detainees" as a violation of detainees' rights, arguing that restricting the religious practice of individuals in government custody requires "an explanation far more substantial than ICE's generic safety and security concerns."
Flashback: Catholic nuns have been praying outside Broadview and offering pastoral care to immigrants for decades, including Mercy Sister JoAnn Persch, who regularly stood outside the facility until her death last week at 91.
Zoom out: Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV this week backed U.S. bishops' condemnation of "indiscriminate mass deportations," saying immigrants must be treated with "dignity," Axios' Rebecca Falconer reports.