Press Release: Federal agents again deny Communion after Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership Mass at Broadview Detention Center
November 1, 2025
Federal agents again deny Communion after Mass at Broadview Detention Center
Up to 2,000 worshippers and 50 priests, women religious and deacons came to ask Immigrants and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to allow a delegation to offer communion inside the detention center in Broadview; “The answer was no.”
Please credit photos as: by Bryan Sebastian courtesy of Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership
BROADVIEW, IL—A Roman Catholic Mass led by the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL) this morning across from the ICE detention center in Broadview opened with Aztec dancers and a procession of more than 50 priests, women religious and deacons. It culminated with more than 2,000 worshippers taking Holy Communion—but not for the detainees inside.
At the height of the service, a delegation of faith leaders led by Bishop José María Garcia-Maldonado of the Archdiocese of Chicago and Sister JoAnn Persch, RSM, walked the 100 yards from the altar to a checkpoint in front of the detention center staffed by Illinois State Police officers. State police spoke on CSPL’s behalf with ICE officials, who again refused to allow the group to enter and provide communion inside the facility.
“Sisters and brothers detained in this horrendous situation, we asked to come and bring you comfort,” Sister Persch reported back to the massed worshippers. ”The answer was no.” Persch, 90, known for praying for immigration rights outside the Broadview facility for decades, shared that until recently she had been allowed into the facility to provide Communion but the policy was changed under the current administration.
The group Saturday was more than double the number of CSPL faith leaders and others who processed to the Broadview center on October 11, when the group also sought to bring Communion to detainees. Since then, Coalition leaders say they have tried everything they can to understand and respond to ambiguous and shifting responses from ICE and Department of Homeland Security on whether and how to get access to provide Communion.
”We attempted for a second time to bring communion to migrants detained there. ICE turned us away,” said Father David Inczauskis, SJ, a member of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership Clergy Council who served as master of ceremonies for the event. “They told us they needed one week's notice. We let them know ten days in advance.”
As Inczauskis noted, Coalition for Spiritual Public Leadership formally requested access more than one week ahead of today’s All Saints Day/Día de los Muertos Mass and emailed and hand-delivered a second letter on October 30. Neither CSPL nor Mayor Thompson of the Village of Broadview, who also sent a letter on behalf of the Coalition, received any response before Saturday.
“I am here today because I am also an immigrant,” Bishop Garcia-Maldonado preached to the crowd. “My story is a story many of you here relate to… being here today is a part of the holiness we are called to live. This is our faith.”
As the group left at noon Saturday, many commented on the fact that while ICE agents never interacted with the group many drove back and forth along the access road, which many interpreted as an attempt to intimidate the large crowd of worshippers. They also said they left more determined than ever to bring Communion to those detained.
“Perhaps they don’t want to allow us in because they know the conditions inside are inhumane and they know we would denounce that,” Father Inczauskis said. “Our request is so simple, to do something the Catholic church does every day. We are united in Christ. We will not stop denouncing the evil of detention and deportation. We cannot be silent in the face of oppression. We will persist until justice flows freely like a river.”
About the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership: CSPL is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-generational spiritually-rooted coalition of over 50 parishes, universities and community organizations that labors to transform racial, economic, social and environmental systemic structures through grassroots coalition building, community organizing, and liberative formation. More at csplaction.org.
Media Contacts:
Sarah Rand, sarah@rand-strategies.com, 312-513-1035
Gordon Mayer, gordon@gordonmayercommunications.com, 312-307-0133
Joanna Arellano-Gonzalez, joanna@csplaction.org, 331-343-7301
