Faith leaders denied access to pray with detainees at Broadview ICE facility on Christmas Eve

Faith leaders were turned away from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview on Christmas Eve morning after attempting to enter and pray with detainees.

The interfaith group has repeatedly sought entry to the building but has been continually turned away. During their latest effort, they said they wanted to offer “pastoral care” to Christians detained there for the holiday.

“Everybody has a right to be treated with dignity, and everybody has a right to share in Christmas Joy, in holiday joy,” said the Rev. Marshall Hatch of the New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church of West Garfield.

The Rev. Brendan Curran of the Resurrection Project said members of his organization sent letters and made calls to the Department of Homeland Security prior to arriving at the facility, but government officials refused to grant permission to enter.

Curran said access to the facility by religious representatives had been allowed in previous years. It has been denied since President Donald Trump’s administration launched its deportation campaign in the Chicago area in September, Curran said.

“We came to simply affirm the dignity of staff and detainees on Christmas Eve. What is so radical about that?” he asked.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

The building is a processing center for detainees, but it has operated as a holding site, with some detainees spending several days there.

U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson joined faith leaders Wednesday after touring the facility earlier this week.

Jackson and other Illinois lawmakers said they were troubled by the conditions they saw in the facility, which has been the setting for heated protests as federal agents conducted immigration arrests across the area under Trump’s Operation Midway Blitz.

Only two detainees were inside the facility Monday, but a staff member in the building told the lawmakers there were “at least over 150 detainees” at the height of immigration enforcement campaign, even though the building only has a capacity of 125.

“I came back out today to be with the faith leaders, because this is their right to bring good news to the poor,” Jackson said. “If we can’t give good news to the poor, then there are people that don’t understand our Christian faith.”