ICE Detention Access: Clergy Sue for Religious Freedom & Consistent Care

ICE detention centers expand and draw scrutiny

The practice of faith leaders ministering to detained migrants is facing increasing challenges as the number of people held in U.S. Immigration detention soars. Clergy are actively seeking greater access to detention centers, particularly during the holy seasons of Lent and Ramadan, and are increasingly resorting to legal action to secure that access.

After celebrating an Ash Wednesday service with four newly arrived migrants near Chicago, local clergy are collaborating with immigration authorities to establish regular visitation schedules. Similarly, at the start of Ramadan, a Muslim chaplain was granted access to two women held for months in immigration detention in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with hopes for continued visits throughout the fasting month.

“In systems that are made to break them, It’s very important that they not only get that care, but they also get adequate care with someone that can help them make meaning of their situation by bringing God,” said chaplain Nosayba Mahmoud, who was able to provide dates to break the Ramadan fast and softcover Qurans to the women in Texas after months of coordination with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Prairieland Detention Facility.

However, access isn’t always granted easily. It took a lawsuit for a Catholic group to gain entry to the ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, on Ash Wednesday. “It’s an important victory,” said the Rev. David Inczauskis, a Jesuit priest and member of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership, which filed the Chicago lawsuit. “But also we recognize that it’s just one step along the way to migrant justice.”

The increased legal challenges reflect a broader trend. Since President Trump began his second term, the number of people detained by ICE has risen from 40,000 to as many as 75,000, spread across more than 225 sites. The largest of these is the El Paso, Texas, facility, which houses approximately 3,000 people daily.

While the Trump administration has consistently framed its mass deportation efforts as targeting individuals posing a danger to society, data from the Deportation Data Project indicates a steady decline in the percentage of those arrested by ICE with criminal histories.

The future impact of a change in leadership at the Department of Homeland Security remains uncertain, but detention centers are facing mounting criticism regarding conditions, including concerns about inadequate medical care and inconsistent access to religious services.

ICE policy stipulates that facilities holding detainees for more than 72 hours must have a chaplain or religious services coordinator, as well as dedicated spaces for worship. The agency also requires advance notice and background checks for clergy and faith volunteers seeking to provide pastoral visits, counseling, or religious services.

A separate lawsuit has been filed in Minnesota, alleging that the government is violating religious freedom by denying clergy access to immigrant detainees at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis. The Rev. Chris Collins, a Jesuit priest, was denied entry while attempting to provide pastoral care during a recent enforcement surge. The lawsuit, filed with the Minnesota branches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Church of Christ, argues that clergy are being “categorically denied” the opportunity to offer spiritual support.

Faith leaders and volunteers have a long history of ministering to immigration detainees. For approximately 15 years, the U.S. Branch of Jesuit Refugee Service has held a contract with the Department of Homeland Security to provide in-house chaplains at several centers, including facilities near the Canadian border and Guantanamo Bay.

Many involved in this ministry express concern about inconsistent access and plan to continue their work, viewing it as essential to upholding the right to worship and affirming the humanity of migrants. “I’m the only outside contact that they have,” said Simran Singh, a Sikh volunteer who visits Indian detainees at a facility in Bakersfield, California. “Most of their relatives are not in America… so I am the only one who knows they exist, that they’re more than just a number.” Singh often brings food from the gurdwara and turbans, which are sometimes confiscated upon detention.

Similarly, Mahmoud, the Muslim chaplain in Texas, hopes to provide prayer cloths during Ramadan, but has not yet been permitted to do so. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently urged “consistent access to religious and pastoral services for all immigration detainees” and requested “clear guidelines and uniform processes” in a letter to Congress, echoing concerns previously expressed by Pope Leo XIV.

For four decades, the Catholic archbishop of Miami, Thomas Wenski, has regularly visited migrants at a detention center on the edge of the Everglades, where a weekly Mass is held. He has also celebrated Mass at a more remote and controversial Florida center, reminding detainees during a Christmas homily that they have not been forgotten.

At the largest detention center in El Paso, Sunday Mass is regularly celebrated, and priests offer confessions, though access is “very limited” due to staffing and space constraints, according to Bishop Mark Seitz. In Southern California, the Rev. Brian Nunes, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, recently celebrated Masses at detention centers in Adelanto and California City, where many detainees struggle with family separation. He also hopes to expand care, believing it is important to demonstrate that detainees are not forgotten, “even when it’s difficult to serve them.”