Clergy members are fighting for expanded access to minister to detained immigrants during holy seasons like Lent and Ramadan. With immigration detention numbers jumping from 40,000 to 75,000 under the current administration, faith leaders have filed lawsuits to ensure religious freedom for detainees.
Religious leaders across the nation are fighting an uphill battle to provide spiritual care to immigrants in federal detention facilities, as the number of detained individuals has nearly doubled during the current immigration enforcement surge.
Ministers, priests, and chaplains are demanding greater access to detention centers, particularly as sacred observances like Lent and Ramadan continue. Following an Ash Wednesday ceremony with four newly arrived migrants at a Chicago-area facility, religious officials are collaborating with immigration officials to establish routine visitation schedules.
As Ramadan began, Muslim chaplain Nosayba Mahmoud gained permission to visit two women who had been held for months at an immigration facility in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. She hopes to continue these visits throughout the month of fasting.
“In systems that are made to break them, it is 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,” Mahmoud explained.
Following months of negotiations with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Prairieland Detention Facility in Texas, Mahmoud received authorization to provide the women with dates for breaking their Ramadan fast and softcover copies of the Quran.
However, legal action was necessary for Catholic representatives to gain entry to the ICE facility in Broadview, a Chicago suburb, on Ash Wednesday. This lawsuit was one of two filed recently after clergy reported being refused access in Illinois and Minnesota.
“It’s an important victory,” stated Rev. David Inczauskis, a Jesuit priest and Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership member who filed the Chicago legal challenge. “But also we recognize that it’s just one step along the way to migrant justice.”
Since President Donald Trump’s second term commenced, ICE detention numbers have climbed to approximately 75,000 from 40,000, distributed among more than 225 locations as facilities expand capacity. Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, serves as the largest site, housing roughly 3,000 individuals daily.
While the Trump administration consistently characterizes its mass deportation campaign as focusing on immigrants who pose societal risks, information from the Deportation Data Project indicates that the proportion of ICE arrestees with criminal backgrounds has continuously declined.
Thursday’s removal of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem leaves uncertain effects on detention operations, though these facilities face growing scrutiny from Congress members regarding living standards and uneven access to legal counsel.
ICE regulations mandate that facilities housing detainees beyond 72 hours must provide a chaplain or “religious services coordinator” along with designated worship areas, according to agency statements to The Associated Press.
The agency’s policies demand advance notification and background screening for clergy and faith volunteers seeking to conduct pastoral visits, counseling sessions, and religious ceremonies.
While ICE detainees originate from worldwide locations, historically most came from nations with Christian majorities.
The two legal cases focus on access to federal buildings outside Chicago and Minneapolis, where clergy reported detainees were confined for extended periods during enforcement operations last fall and this winter.
Both lawsuits argue the government infringed upon religious liberty by preventing clergy from ministering to migrants.
The Illinois case documented faith leaders being blocked from the Broadview center beginning last fall—representing a shift since a nun and coalition member had conducted approved weekly prayers there for ten years before filing the mid-November lawsuit.
Following a judge’s order permitting the Ash Wednesday visit, faith leaders express “cautious optimism” about establishing regular visitation schedules to offer prayers and distribute items like rosaries and Bibles, Inczauskis noted.
Such access could also serve federal agents—three requested to receive ashes alongside the migrants, he added.
In Minneapolis, Rev. Chris Collins, another Jesuit priest, was refused entry to a federal building where loud protests occurred daily during the enforcement surge. Partnering with Minnesota branches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and United Church of Christ, Collins filed a February lawsuit against the government for being “categorically denied” pastoral care opportunities.
Clergy and volunteers from various faiths have historically provided ministry to immigration detainees.
For approximately 15 years, the U.S. branch of Jesuit Refugee Service has maintained a Department of Homeland Security contract to supply in-house chaplains at six centers, spanning from near the Canadian border in New York to Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay, according to nonprofit spokesperson Bridget Cusick.
Many involved clergy and volunteers express concern about inconsistent access patterns, yet they remain committed to their ministry, viewing it as essential for protecting worship rights and affirming migrants’ humanity.
“I’m the only outside contact that they have,” explained Simran Singh, who began visiting Indian detainees at Bakersfield, California’s Mesa Verde ICE facility ten years ago. “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.”
The Sikh volunteer noted that during weekly visits, detainees appreciate the gurdwara food he provides—for some, it represents the only suitable vegetarian meals they receive while detained.
Others welcome his delivery of turbans worn by observant men, which are frequently confiscated during detention.
“That’s part of your identity. So not only are you stripped of your name, but you’re also stripped of who you are,” Singh observed.
Similarly, Texas Muslim chaplain Mahmoud expressed interest in providing prayer cloths, especially during Ramadan, though she hasn’t received permission yet.
In a recent congressional letter, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops advocated for “consistent access to religious and pastoral services for all immigration detainees” and requested “clear guidelines and uniform processes.”
The bishops had previously voiced concerns about inadequate pastoral care in a fall statement strongly supported by Pope Leo XIV.
Miami’s Catholic archbishop Thomas Wenski has spent four decades visiting migrants at the Krome Detention Center near the Everglades, where weekly Mass occurs.
He has also conducted Mass at Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz, an even more isolated and controversial facility. During his Christmas homily there, he assured dozens of primarily Latino and Latin American men that his presence proved they remained remembered.
“There are people outside that are praying for you,” Wenski recalled preaching. “God has not abandoned you.”
At El Paso’s largest detention center, Sunday Mass occurs regularly with priests also visiting for confessions. However, access remains “very limited” due to what management cites as staff and space shortages, Bishop Mark Seitz reported.
In Southern California, Rev. Brian Nunes, Los Angeles auxiliary bishop, recently celebrated two Masses at large detention centers in Adelanto and California City, where many struggle with family and community separation.
He also hopes to expand care services.
“There’s also, on a very important level, this sense that … even when it’s difficult to serve them, that they were served,” Nunes stated.