DHS denied clergy access to pray with detainees at Broadview, Illinois ICE facility on Christmas Eve

On December 24, 2025, an interfaith group of Chicago-area clergy was turned away from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview, Illinois, after DHS refused their request to enter and offer pastoral care to detainees held there on Christmas Eve. The Rev. Brendan Curran of the Resurrection Project said members of his organization had sent letters and made calls to DHS in advance of the visit, but government officials refused to grant permission to enter. The Rev. Marshall Hatch of New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church said, "Everybody has a right to be treated with dignity, and everybody has a right to share in Christmas joy, in holiday joy."

Curran said religious-representative access to the facility had been allowed in previous years but has been denied since the Trump administration launched Operation Midway Blitz, its fall 2025 immigration-enforcement surge in the Chicago area, in September 2025. U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson, who had toured the facility earlier in the week and reported it holding more than 150 detainees against a stated capacity of 125, joined the clergy outside the building in a show of support.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment on the denial. "We came to simply affirm the dignity of staff and detainees on Christmas Eve," Curran said. "What is so radical about that?"

Updates

2026-02-18 — Federal judge's injunction let clergy access detainees for Ash Wednesday [4]

A federal judge granted clergy a preliminary injunction, finding DHS had burdened their religious exercise without a compelling government justification for denying access. Following the ruling, priests and a nun from the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership visited the Broadview facility and gave ashes to detainees and staff on Ash Wednesday.

2026-05 — DHS agreed to daily clergy access pending litigation [5]

Following an April 2026 preliminary injunction finding the blanket denial violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership and ICE reached an interim agreement allowing daily pastoral visits to detainees at the Broadview facility for the duration of the litigation.