WASHINGTON (AP) — The imposing Shrine of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic church a short drive from the White House, was intended to be a sanctuary for worshippers. Now, its mostly immigrant congregation is steeped in fear.
Church leaders say more than 40 members of their parish have been detained, deported or both since federal law enforcement stepped up their deployment in August.
Many parishioners are too scared to leave home to attend Mass, buy food or seek medical care, as the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown targets their communities.
Cardinal Robert McElroy, who leads the Archdiocese of Washington, said the government was using fear to rob immigrants “of any sense of real peace or security.”
“It really is an instrument of terror,” he told The Associated Press.
Trump’s federal law enforcement surge technically ended on Sept. 10. But National Guard troops and federal agents remain in the nation’s capital. That includes immigration authorities, who continue to prowl near Sacred Heart, which sits in a vibrant Latino community flanked by two neighborhoods — Columbia Heights and Mt. Pleasant — that have been home to successive waves of immigrants.
The parish was established more than 100 years ago by Irish, Italian and German immigrants. Today, most of its 5,600 members came from El Salvador, but also from Haiti, Brazil and Vietnam.
The immigration raids have upended lives and worship at Sacred Heart. Families grieve for missing loved ones. Attendance at Masses, which are held in several languages, has dropped dramatically, visible …