In the News

By Aidan Williams

Clergy members were turned away from providing Ash Wednesday services to detainees at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s temporary holding facility in downtown Los Angeles.

The denial was communicated by ICE agents at the facility to a group of clergy from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Faith leaders had submitted a request on Monday, signed and submitted by U.S. House Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), to provide communion to detainees, many of whom are awaiting transfer to permanent detention facilities.

A group of roughly 50 protestors aligned with the Community Self Defense Coalition, which seeks to protect undocumented immigrants from ICE raids, were also stationed outside the building, though they were not trying to enter the facility with the clergy.

Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent, during which Christians fast, pray and perform penance in the lead-up to Easter. For believers, it is one of the holiest days of the year.

“Even if someone is in detention for only 12 hours, this is our most solemn day in our most Holy Week,” Matt Harper, a member of the Los Angeles Catholic Worker who accompanied clergy attempting to enter the ICE facility, said.

“There is no making up this ritual. There is no making up this day.”

When clergy members submitted a second request the next day, again signed and submitted by Rep. Gomez, an ICE field director responded that, because detainees were only being held temporarily, they did not require access to pastoral care.

Still, clergy members returned several weeks later on Good Friday. After a brief back-and-forth with ICE officials, the congregation was allowed inside the building to administer blessings to detainees.

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