Seven Faith Leaders Arrested During Protest at Illinois ICE Facility
Broadview, IL – At least seven faith leaders were arrested Friday during a exhibition at teh Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Broadview, Illinois, escalating tensions over the agency’s “Operation Midway Blitz” and the denial of religious sacraments to detainees. The arrests followed a confrontation with police as clergy and activists attempted to approach the facility, according to reports and social media footage.
The protest was sparked by ongoing concerns over ICE policies and, specifically, the agency’s restriction of access for religious leaders seeking to provide spiritual care to detainees – a practice condemned by some Catholic bishops and supported by comments from pope Leo XIV. Religious leaders have previously been allowed to do so in the past.
Video footage posted on social media (link) shows the Rev. Michael Woolf and othre faith leaders attempting to approach the facility, marching arm-in-arm, before being met by a forceful police response. Demonstrators were pushed back, and arrests quickly followed.
Several participants expressed shock at the intensity of the police action. The Rev.Quincy Worthington,a Presbyterian Church (USA) minister active in protests against ICE,stated he attempted to assist those who had fallen and were “being crushed or beaten.” The Rev. Hannah Kardon, a United Methodist minister previously arrested at a demonstration in Broadview, described witnessing “overwhelming and unneeded violence” from “multiple police forces.”
“I saw knees on necks,” Kardon wrote in a text message. “I saw people pulled and dragged. I saw people slammed to the ground. Faith leaders were brutalized today for wanting to offer spiritual care to their stolen neighbors. It was horrific.”
Clergy have consistently criticized “Operation Midway Blitz” and report repeated encounters with force from federal, state, and local police. At least five local clergy, including Woolf, kardon, and Worthington, have been hit with pepper balls fired by department of Homeland Security forces. Footage of the Rev. David Black, a Presbyterian minister from Chicago, being struck in the head with pepper balls was widely shared on social media.
Activists have accused Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker of protecting ICE agents as state and local police have taken on a larger role in securing the facility.
The treatment of faith-based protesters is central to a class-action lawsuit and a separate case featuring Black as a plaintiff, wich recently resulted in a temporary restraining order limiting the use of violence against protesters, including “religious practitioners.”
Following his arrest,Woolf reported that he and other detainees continued to engage in prayer and worship,singing songs like “We Shall Overcome” and reciting poetry. He reflected on “the dehumanizing nature” of his experience, stating that “the cruelty that goes on at that facility … must be 100 times worse.”
This post has been updated to include a statement from DHS.