Judge says religious ministers must have access to detainees at Minnesota ICE facility

Christian ministers including a Jesuit priest won a victory at federal court on March 20 when a U.S. district judge said the Department of Homeland Security must allow them formal pastoral access to detainees at a federal facility in Minneapolis.

Judge Jerry Blackwell said in his ruling that the government “may not impose an access protocol … that bars clergy visits in all circumstances” at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building on the outskirts of Minneapolis.

A group of Christian objectors, including Father Christopher Collins, SJ, had sued the government in late February, alleging that it was unlawfully “barring faith leaders from offering prayer, pastoral guidance, sacramental ministry, and spiritual comfort” to immigrants detained in the Whipple facility.

The government was unconstitutionally obstructing the plaintiffs’ “sacred obligation to exercise their faith through ministry to community members in the greatest need of spiritual comfort,” the suit said.

In his ruling Blackwell said that his order allowing the ministers access to the facility would last “for the duration” of the lawsuit.

Erin Westbrook — an attorney with the law firm Saul Ewing which filed the suit on behalf of the ministers — said in a press release that the plaintiffs view their ministry work as “a core expression of their faith and a constitutionally protected exercise of religion.”

“It is vital that they be able to provide pastoral care at the Whipple building at a time when those detained are experiencing profound fear, uncertainty, and isolation,” she said.

Prior to the order the government had argued that heavy immigration enforcement in the area had already ended and that clergy had increasingly been allowed back into the building for ministry visits in recent weeks.

But Blackwellʼs order requires that officials develop a “written protocol” to ensure clergy access to the facility. The government must respond to requests for access “within a reasonable time,” the judge said, adding that such requests are subject to “reasonable” security measures.

The judge ordered the parties in the suit to file a joint status report by April 2 that includes proposed policies and disagreements from both sides.