Minnesota clergy sue DHS over access to immigration detainees
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A group of Minnesota religious leaders on Monday sued the Department of Homeland Security. They allege that DHS has repeatedly blocked them from visiting immigration detainees at the Whipple Federal Building near the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
The United Church of Christ (UCC) Minnesota Conference and the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) allege along with Christopher Collins, a Jesuit priest and pastor at St. Peter Claver Church in St. Paul, that DHS is violating the religious rights of people whom Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding in custody.
“To be able to receive pastoral care is incredibly important. For individuals to be treated with humanity instead of being treated like inventory,” Irina Vaynerman, the CEO of Groundwork Legal and one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, said in an interview with MPR News. :The federal government is trying to treat a federal building that's being used as a processing and detention center as a black box and they cannot do that,” she added.
“Whipple, named for Minnesota’s first Episcopal bishop and a prominent 19th-century advocate for the rights of non-citizens, has become the epicenter of systematic deprivation of fundamental constitutional and legal rights by the federal government,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys write in the civil complaint.
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The defendants named in the complaint include DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, and David Easterwood, ICE’s acting field director in St. Paul. Easterwood is a pastor at Cities Church in St. Paul, where demonstrators disrupted a church service on Jan. 18. The Justice Department filed felony charges against nine people, including two journalists, in connection with the protest.
On Dec. 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the clergy allege that Collins attempted to enter Whipple to pray for a detained mother of a local student, “but when he arrived, he was blocked from even entering the parking lot to Whipple. He was prevented entirely from accessing the building and from ministering to those believed to be inside the building.”
A month later, UCC ministers Rev. Susan Hayward and Rev. Rebecca Voelkel say that they also attempted to enter the building but Homeland Security officials “barred the ministers from providing any spiritual guidance or care to detainees.”
Despite White House advisor Tom Homan’s Feb. 12 announcement that a majority of federal agents would be leaving Minnesota, the clergy members say that DHS continues to block them from providing spiritual care to detainees.
“The alleged drawdown of ICE agents has had no impact on the inability of faith leaders to provide pastoral care to detainees at Whipple,” the plaintiffs write.
As recently as Feb. 18, Rev. Melissa Gonzalez with the ELCA alleges that a DHS staff member directed her to a waiting room, but ultimately blocked her from visiting detainees on Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent for many Christian denominations.
“The individual representing Whipple informed Rev. Gonzalez that she would not be permitted access to detainees for ‘security’ and ‘safety’ reasons,” according to the complaint. “When Rev. Gonzalez asked for further explanation, the employee unfoundedly claimed that the detainees could become agitated. Rev. Gonzalez noted that for those who sought pastoral care, being provided with such care would likely make them less agitated.”
Following a similar lawsuit from a Roman Catholic group, a federal judge in Illinois ordered DHS to open its suburban Chicago detention center to clergy in time for Ash Wednesday.
In a statement provided to MPR News Monday, a DHS spokesperson said, “It is not within standard operating procedure for religious services to be provided in a field office, as detainees are continuously brought in, processed and transferred out.”
The clergy lawsuit follows class action litigation from The Advocates for Human Rights, which alleges that DHS has repeatedly blocked detainees from accessing legal counsel.
On Feb. 12, U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel issued a temporary restraining order that requires DHS to ensure that detainees may speak with attorneys privately. Brasel also mandated that DHS wait 72 hours before moving detainees out of Minnesota.
In a new order late Sunday, Brasel set a Wednesday deadline for DHS to produce evidence related to attorney access, including “where Defendants are detaining people, who they are detaining, whether detainees have been allowed phone calls or attorney visits, and where Defendants are transferring detainees.”
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