(RNS) — At least two pastors were among those shoved, shot at with pepper rounds and exposed to pepper spray while protesting the actions of federal immigration agents in Minneapolis on Wednesday (Jan. 7), as protesters demonstrated after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a woman who had been observing them.
The Rev. Susie Hayward, a United Church of Christ minister who serves as minister for justice organizing at Creekside UCC in the city, was among the dozens who rushed to the scene after news of the shooting broke. The pastor, who was wearing a clerical collar and had already been patrolling to observe a spike in ICE activity around the city that day, joined a growing crowd protesting Department of Homeland Security officials as some of the agents began to leave the area.
“There was a request for clergy to show up” at the scene, she told Religion News Service. “I was out the door.”
Hayward, who lives a mile from the shooting site and has been involved in pushback to immigration enforcement actions in the city, is one of many faith leaders around the country who have been demonstrating against DHS and the ICE agents enacting President Donald Trump’s mass depo …