Religious leaders denied request to deliver communion to detainees at Broadview facility

A delegation of Catholic priests, nuns and lay leaders were among hundreds of people from Chicago and the suburbs who marched from Maywood to Broadview on Saturday in hopes of delivering Holy Communion to detainees at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility.

But after approaching Illinois State Police officers standing outside the facility, the group’s communion request was rebuffed.

The processing facility has been at the center of ongoing demonstrations in recent weeks. About 11 a.m., protesters marched down Lexington Street toward the center, praying and singing.

Illinois State Police Lt. Col. Jason Bradley called the facility with the religious leaders’ request to give communion. Bradley said ICE denied the request.

Bradley said no reason was given for the denial.

ICE didn’t immediately return a request for comment on why the request was denied.

About 1,000 members of Chicago-area parishes and of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership were part of the delegation.

When the leaders announced to the group that ICE had declined the request, people started yelling “Shame! Shame!”

The group had communion among themselves in the parking lot and street before dispersing to either walk home or board yellow school buses the organizers had rented to take people home.

The Rev. Larry Dowling, one of the priests holding the communion elements, said, “We’re just very disappointed because we simply wanted to bring the love of God and the presence of the Eucharist to these prisoners, which we had been allowed to do before all this stuff happened. So they’re basically rejecting us bringing the presence of Christ and the love of God.”

A spokesperson for the coalition pointed to the 2008 Access to Religious Ministry Act, which allows religious workers “reasonable access” to jails and people in immigration detention facilities to meet with those who wish to “consult about their spiritual needs.”

“ICE has completely shut down and [is] not allowing any ministers inside to provide communion and religious support for many weeks now,” said spokesperson Sarah Rand of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership. Rand was unsure whether any attempts by other groups had been successful.

Chuck Fitzsimmons led the singing during the procession along Lexington Street to the ICE facility.

“In one sense [the music] keeps up your spirits, but also it focuses us on the message that we are here as one, brothers and sisters all,” he said.

He said he was sad to not be able to share communion with the detainees. “However, these are the times and these are the morals, and I think we were prepared to be denied,” he said.

On Saturday, crews put up barricades in front of the fence that a judge ordered removed by Tuesday per state police orders, according to a crew person on site.

U.S. District Judge LaShonda A. Hunt issued a temporary restraining order Thursday ordering the removal of the fence outside the processing facility to be taken down immediately.

The fence, erected in September, was still up as of Saturday afternoon. Officials have until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday to take it down.

Before the clergy arrived, dozens of protesters had already gathered at Harvard Street and 25th Avenue.

About 30 minutes ahead of Broadview’s 6 p.m. protest curfew, some protesters went onto 25th Avenue to heckle a vehicle full of federal agents. Police then declared an unlawful assembly and pushed protesters down the street. State and sheriff’s confirmed 15 arrests throughout the day. Protesters arrested earlier Saturday face charges including destruction of government property, aggravated battery to a police officer, mob action and resisting or obstructing an officer.

About 7 p.m. Illinois State Police retreated and protesters cleared the roadway as Illinois Department of Transportation made small adjustments to the barriers around the designated free speech zones along 25th Avenue and demonstrators largely dispersed.

The ICE facility is the site of ongoing and often tense demonstrations, with agents deploying chemical irritants and rubber pellets, since President Donald Trump’s administration aggressively ramped up a deportation campaign in the Chicago area last month under the name “Operation Midway Blitz.”

Since then, protesters have arrived at the facility in the early morning hours, sometimes as early as 5 a.m. and have clashed with federal authorities into the late night hours.

Contributing: Jake Wittich