(RNS) — Taking a cue from the pope and American Catholic bishops, a group of Chicago-area Catholic priests, nuns and advocates filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration, claiming the government is encroaching on their religious freedom by barring them from providing religious rites and services to immigrant detainees.
The complaint, filed on Wednesday (Nov. 19), follows weeks of faith-led protests outside of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Illinois, about 12 miles west of Chicago. Religious advocates allege detainees in the facility are being mistreated and that the advocates have repeatedly attempted to offer Communion and pastoral care to those inside. The faith leaders — who include large processions of Catholics, including a local bishop — say they have been denied each time, with one demonstration last week resulting in the arrest of at least seven faith leaders.
In their lawsuit, the Catholic plaintiffs — who include three priests, a nun, a lay Catholic advocate and the Chicago nonprofit Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership — note that at least some Catholic leaders were allowed in to the facility in years past and prayed with detainees. But the situation is different under Trump’s second administration, the plaintiffs say, resulting in a violation of their First Amendment rights as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
“Plaintiffs Fr. Dowling, Sr. Midura, Fr. Berry, Fr. Hartnett, Okińczyc-Cruz, and CSPL, each sought to exercise, but were denied by ICE, their right to free exercise of religion under the First Amendment to the Constitution and the RFRA by being denied the right to pray and administer Holy Communion to detainees housed at the ICE facility in Broadview,” the lawsuit reads.
It later adds: “The United States has a long history of accommodating such religious freedom and practice inside of prisons and jails, and there is no reason to deny th …