Detainees denied communion at Illinois detention facility

Chicago, Illinois, Nov 1, 2025 / 17:29 pm (CNA).

Bishop Jose María García-Maldonado celebrated a Mass Nov. 1 outside the Broadview facility in Chicago where immigration advocates allege federal authorities inhumanely treat detainees.

Maldonado, an auxiliary bishop in Chicago, and a group of eight spiritual leaders sought to bring Holy Communion to detainees and were not admitted. Mass organizers said they followed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s guidelines to obtain access and submitted the request weeks in advance.

An estimated 2,000 Catholics attended the outdoor Mass including Sister JoAnn Persch, 91, a Sister of Mercy and longtime advocate for immigrant rights in the Chicago area.

Persch said in previous years she was granted access to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and brought communion to detainees, but access has ceased. Obtaining access initially took time when she first began visiting the facility a decade ago, she said.

“Our motto is peacefully, respectfully, but never take no for an answer, so we kept working with ICE,” Persch said. “Finally, we got inside.”

Father David Inczauskis, S.J., who worked with the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership and Broadview, Illinois’ mayor to request access, said, “On a day of All Saints, people should be able to receive communion. That’s a reasonable request to make, fitting with our Constitution and with the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.”

A full slate of information about who is inside the facility is lacking, he said. But family members of detainees say their loved ones are inside desiring communion, he said. Authorities cited “safety reasons” for denying the group access, Inczauskis said.

“The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. It’s such an important thing for people to be able to receive communion. To be denied that right, that opportunity, as Catholics, is devastating,” Inczauskis said.

Michael Okinczyc-Cruz, executive director of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership, cited media reports saying people are being kept at the Broadview facility for days, sleeping on floors, having medications withheld, with no showers.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Marshall Justice Center sued the federal government Oct. 31, saying migrants are housed in inhumane conditions at Broadview and denied their right to access counsel. The Department of Homeland Security has vigorously denied the allegations of subprime conditions.

Alexa Van Brunt, director of the MacArthur Justice Center’s Illinois office and lead counsel on the suit said in a statement, “Community members are being kidnapped off the streets, packed in hold cells, denied food, medical care, and basic necessities, and forced to sign away their legal rights. This is a vicious abuse of power and gross violation of basic human rights by ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. It must end now.”  

The suit alleges ICE agents at Broadview deny detainees sufficient food, water, hygiene, and medical care. The suit alleged detainees are deprived of sleep, privacy, menstrual products, and the ability to shower.   

President Donald Trump expanded use of deportations without a court hearing this year and ramped up federal law enforcement efforts to identify and arrest immigrants lacking legal status. The administration set a goal of 1 million deportations this year.

Genin De la Peña is a Chicago resident who said she attended the Mass at Broadview “because others cannot, I want to support,” she said.

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/267539/detainees-denied-communion-at-illinois-detention-facility