Religious organizations commonly provide spiritual care for detainees in immigration detention facilities. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building has offices for federal agencies, an immigration court, and serves as a detention center for immigrants. It is typically a processing and holding site before moving detainees to another location. The number of detainees has significantly increased in the Whipple Federal buildings due to Operation Metro Surge. This was a large-scale federal immigration enforcement operation started by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in December 2025, where thousands of federal agents were deployed in order to deport undocumented immigrants. Clergy members of religious organizations around Minneapolis were typically allowed access on a case-by-case basis, but since the operation began, access has been consistently denied.
While the Operation officially ended on February 3rd 2026, access for pastors was still being rejected in the following weeks, leading to clergy members filing a lawsuit against the DHS and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for violating the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Minnesota Conference of the United Church of Christ (UCC), and Father Christopher Collins, an ordained priest of the Roman Catholic Church, filed the lawsuit together because they had the same claims and all experienced substantial religious burden through the prevention of religious practice. A preliminary injunction has been granted by U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell to allow in-person visits to all detainees in the Whipple Federal Building while the case continues.
The central issue raised by the pastors is that the government's actions impose a significant burden on their ability to freely exercise their religion by preventing them from carrying out essential religious duties. The burden is substantial because the clergy were not only denied access on ordinary days, but also on major religious holidays, when it is most important for them to complete religious services for others. The most prominent example happened this past Ash Wednesday, a holy day in Christianity that marks the start of lent, when Reverend Gonzalez attempted to enter the facility to provide pastoral care and administer ashes for detainees. She notified the officials of her purpose, but was denied access and given no alternatives, even after offering to meet with detainees in small groups. The imposition of ashes on those who practice Christianity is an essential pastoral obligation, and the prevention of this action means she cannot fulfill that obligation until the following year. Similar denials occurred in other instances, including Father Collins being refused on December 12th, which is the date of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a celebration of Mary as a figure in the catholic religion and her appearance in Saint Juan Diego. Taken together, these types of incidents show a pattern of denying access to religious care without exploring reasonable alternatives for the clergy to fulfill their obligations. As a result, the argument is that the restrictions are a substantial and unjustified burden on the free exercise of religion.
From the perspective of DHS and ICE, the constitutional issue centers around whether restricting access to the facility is justified by a compelling government interest, specifically maintaining safety and order during the time of increased enforcement. Officials have cited safety concerns due to the high number of detainees in the building during Operation Metro Surge, as well as the presence of protests and civil unrest near the facility, which have made visits more difficult. This suggests that the government may claim its actions were necessary to maintain the security of the building. Additionally, existing ICE policies require background checks and advanced notice for clergy visits, and mandate religious services only in facilities that hold detainees for more than 72 hours. Because DHS and ICE claim that the Whipple building is a short-term processing site and holds people for less than 24 hours, they could argue that the requirements do not apply in the same way. However, this claim is complicated by the reports that some detainees are held for longer periods at this location. The government also plans to argue the case is moot, since restrictions have been eased and access allowed more recently for clergy members. This highlights the question of whether the government’s interest in security is enough to justify limited religious access, and if the limits were applied consistently with constitutional protections for religious exercise.
While free exercise of religion is often limited in detention settings, constitutional protections still apply to both detainees and religious leaders. In this case, the actions of DHS and ICE are unconstitutional because even if safety concerns are legitimate, they failed to use the least restrictive means to address them, or at least investigate the possibility of one. Clergy members were completely denied access to detainees, and no reasonable alternatives were offered. This total denial, rather than a limited restriction, created a substantial burden on their religious obligations.
The policies listed by ICE seem to conflict with the actions they have taken. They require religious services and coordination in the facilities when individuals are held for more than 72 hours, yet they neglected to adhere to these policies during the duration of the Metro Surge operation. It is important to acknowledge the possibility that detainees could have been there more than 72 hours, knowing that the increasing number of people being held likely caused longer transfer processes. Even in the case that this building adhered to the proper requirements to be considered a temporary holding facility, denying all access violates religious exercise because it is preventing practice for both the religious leaders and the detainees. Overall, I think that restricting access to detention facilities from religious care without exploring less restrictive means violates free exercise of religion.
1 comment:
After reading about the actions of DHS and ICE and the impact that it is having, I agree with your analysis that finds these actions to violate the Free Exercise Clause. It is particularly concerning that the policy impedes on both the clergy members and detainees free exercise rights, showing that it is having a significant impact. In my view, it is evident that efforts need to be made to better balance the rights of the detainees and clergymen with security concerns.
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