Catholic Clergy Sue Trump-Vance White House Over Communion Ban at ICE Facility

Inspired by Pope Leo, priests and nuns are taking the Trump-Vance Administration to court after being repeatedly barred from bringing Holy Communion to migrants at a Chicago detention center.

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For weeks, Catholic priests, religious sisters and brothers in Chicago have been making a simple request: to minister to immigrants held at the Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing center.

In early October, hundreds of priests, nuns, and laypeople — many in bright yellow shirts — marched from a local parish to Broadview carrying the Eucharist, which Catholics revere as the body of Christ.

Their goal was to share Communion with those locked inside and offer spiritual solace to detainees separated from their families. But when they arrived at the gates, Illinois state troopers relayed the request to federal officials and came back with a blunt answer: ICE had denied the clergy entry, without any explanation.

Instead of turning back, the faith delegation held a makeshift Communion service in the facility’s parking lot, hoping their hymns and prayers might at least be heard by the migrants behind the fences.

Fr. Larry Dowling, one of the participating priests, voiced the group’s heartbreak: “We’re just very disappointed because we simply wanted to bring the love of God and the presence of the Eucharist to these prisoners… So they’re basically rejecting us bringing the presence of Christ and the love of God,” he lamented.

Organizers noted this wasn’t a one-off incident — for weeks ICE had been blocking all clergy visits at Broadview despite Illinois law guaranteeing ministers “reasonable access” to those in detention.

The Broadview center, a major holding site for immigrants awaiting deportation, has become a flashpoint in recent months.

Ever since President Trump launched a stepped-up deportation campaign in the Chicago area called “Operation Midway Blitz,” the facility has seen almost daily confrontations between federal agents and protesters, with National Guard troops deployed and tear gas used against crowds.

Yet amid this crackdown, local Catholics have continued to show up in peace, determined to uphold what one organizer called the “dignity of our immigrant brothers and sisters.”

From Peaceful Vigil to Federal Lawsuit

After being rejected at the gates yet again on November 1 — even after following all the proper protocols — the Catholic coalition decided it had enough.

Last week, a group of Chicago priests, nuns, and the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL) filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration and ICE officials, arguing that this Communion ban violates the First Amendment and federal religious freedom laws.

The legal complaint chronicles a “long history of religious access” at the Broadview facility established by Catholic sisters over many years — a tradition now abruptly “unconstitutionally denied” under new orders.

“Despite the long history of religious access to Broadview… recent months have brought shifting, contradictory, and often opaque communication from DHS and ICE officials,” explained Michael Okińczyc-Cruz, CSPL’s executive director. “Faced with this lack of honesty and transparency, we were left with no choice but to file this lawsuit,” he said.

The suit contends that detainees’ rights to pastoral care are being trampled, noting that for years clergy regularly provided Communion and counsel inside Broadview — until now.

“Now, no one is allowed inside Broadview,” the filing states. “Faith leaders seeking to provide religious services are blocked from providing Communion and spiritual support to detainees, even from outside.”

What makes the Communion ban especially jarring to many is that it coincides with troubling reports about conditions inside Broadview.

In early November, a federal judge intervened with an emergency order after detainees described “squalid conditions” — clogged toilets, lack of soap and food, people sleeping on floors.

The court ordered ICE to clean up the facility and provide basics like toothbrushes, towels, adequate meals, and water. Trump officials angrily opposed that ruling, insisting Broadview holds the “worst of the worst” immigrants.

The new lawsuit does not seek to free anyone from custody, but to restore a basic lifeline of humanity for those inside: access to God and the sacraments. Plaintiffs are asking the court to order ICE to permit clergy visits and allow detainees to practice their faith — something they say is not only a Catholic duty but a fundamental American right.

Pope Leo and Catholic Leaders Demand Dignity

The trans-Atlantic outcry over Broadview’s restrictions has been led by Pope Leo XIV himself. When the first American pope learned that migrants in his hometown were being denied Communion, he publicly denounced the Trump-Vance administration’s actions as incompatible with the Gospel.

Standing outside his vacation residence in Castel Gandolfo, Leo appealed directly to U.S. authorities to respect the religious rights and dignity of detainees.

“Jesus says very clearly that at the end of the world we’re going to be asked, you know, how did you receive the foreigner? … I think that there’s a deep reflection that needs to be made in terms of what’s happening,” the pope told reporters, invoking Matthew 25’s call to welcome the stranger.

He urged immigration officials to allow pastoral workers to tend to those behind bars, because “their own spiritual needs should be attended to” even if they’ve been separated from family for long periods.

Leo’s forceful words have emboldened U.S. Catholic leaders.

Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich — who accompanied a delegation to the Vatican last month – affirmed that Pope Leo wants all American bishops “to speak with one voice” against unjust immigration crackdowns.

“This has to be front and center right now. This is the issue of the day,” Cupich said, framing the defense of immigrant families as the Church’s urgent moral duty.

On November 12, the U.S. bishops’ conference issued a rare unanimous message echoing Leo’s stance, calling for the “human dignity of migrants to be respected” and for detained individuals to have basic pastoral access.

In Chicago, that consensus spans from prominent prelates to the Catholic grassroots: the very day after Pope Leo’s remarks, dozens of nuns and priests returned to Broadview to pray the rosary at dawn, undeterred by armed guards. Their peaceful witness, holding up crosses and images of Our Lady of Guadalupe, dramatized the question Leo posed — will we welcome the foreigner, or slam the door on Christ himself?

White House Digs In and Denies Wrongdoing

So far, the Trump-Vance White House has reacted with defiance, dismissing the concerns raised by Pope Leo and the Catholic plaintiffs. An unnamed administration spokesperson scoffed that “the pope doesn’t know what he’s talking about” when asked about Leo’s critique.

Almost immediately, Homeland Security officials launched a public relations counter-offensive to dispute the pope’s account. Tricia McLaughlin, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, took to social media to insist that “religious organizations have ALWAYS been welcome to provide services to detainees in ICE detention facilities. Religious leaders may request access through proper channels and have those requests approved.”

According to McLaughlin, if the clergy were kept out, it must be due to some misunderstanding — not a deliberate policy. She even claimed Pope Leo was spreading falsehoods about family separations, essentially accusing the pontiff of getting his facts wrong.

But Catholic advocates say these excuses don’t hold water. In reality, Chicago’s clergy did follow every “proper channel” – sending formal requests weeks in advance for the Nov. 1 visit — yet ICE still turned them away without cause.

That directly contradicts the administration’s blanket assurances.

Even as government spokespeople publicly urge faith leaders to “reach out to ICE,” other officials privately admit that Broadview is being treated differently.

In one exchange, a DHS deputy told reporters he “will not engage in hypotheticals about Broadview’s policies” — a tacit signal that something unusual is indeed going on at the Chicago site.

Advocates suspect the facility’s designation as a “processing center” is being used as a loophole to skirt regulations that normally protect detainee rights. Their lawsuit aims to cut through that obfuscation and force the administration’s hand.

As this legal battle unfolds, the stakes go beyond one jail on Chicago’s outskirts.

At issue is whether core religious liberty extends to undocumented migrants in government custody, or whether a political agenda can override the spiritual needs of vulnerable human beings.

Pope Leo XIV has made his choice clear.

“If [the Church] wants to be Christ’s Church, it must be a Church of the Beatitudes, one that makes room for the little ones,” Leo said recently, stressing that how a society treats the least among us — including those in detention — is the ultimate measure of its moral compass.

With Catholic clergy now pressing their case in federal court and on the streets, the Trump administration faces growing pressure to reconcile its hardline immigration tactics with a simple demand: Let the Church tend to the flock, even behind locked gates, and recognize that no border or barbed wire can extinguish the God-given dignity of those inside.

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