A prayer for immigrants: dozens of nuns and human-rights leaders gather outside ICE office in Center City
"I don’t know if it changes policy," said Sister Linda Lukiewski, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph. "But what I do know is it gives people hope.”
Calling the plight of immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers a defining moral challenge of the age, scores of nuns, religious and human-rights activists gathered outside the Philadelphia ICE headquarters on Wednesday to pray for change.
They held signs and small wooden handmade crosses, each of the latter bearing the name of someone who died in ICE custody during the last two years.
Members of the Sisters of Saint Joseph and the Philadelphia Area Lasallian Ministries co-hosted the vigil at Eighth and Cherry Streets, saying they sought justice and compassion for newcomers, and wanted to physically and visibly proclaim “the human dignity of our immigrant neighbors.”
They said ICE operations in Philadelphia are fracturing families and casting a shadow of fear over neighborhoods, as people are detained and deported amid President Donald Trump’s push for mass removals. At least 100 people took part in the vigil, the crowd spilling off of the sidewalk and onto Eighth Street.
The rally came less than a week before the mid-term elections, where Democrats are vying to take control of Congress — a change that could potentially put a brake on Trump’s mass-deportation agenda.
Nationally, during the first 18 months of the president’s second term, the Department of Homeland Security completed about 980,000 deportations — a faster pace than under the Biden and first Trump administrations, though still below early-2000s levels, according to a new analysis by the Migration Policy Institute in Washington.
Outside ICE headquarters in Philadelphia on Wednesday, the crowd — a mix of older and younger people, mostly female — held their crosses aloft and waved to honking cars. Four people held up a giant blue banner for the entirety of the nearly hourlong vigil: “One with our dear neighbors: immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers,” it read.
A spokesperson for Homeland Security said “ICE respects the First Amendment rights of individuals to observe and express themselves. However, if such actions interfere with or obstruct our operations, ICE will take necessary steps to address the situation.
“Obstructing law enforcement is a federal crime, and assaulting law enforcement is a federal crime and felony. Our message remains: ICE is NOT slowing down.”
Those who gathered Wednesday were equally determined.
“It’s the power of prayers, it’s the call to action,” said Beth Ford McNamee, director of the SSJ Center for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation. “It’s the week before the midterm elections, so we’re calling on people to vote, to discern and pray about their vote, and we’re also praying for safe and fair elections.”
Asked if rallies and prayer vigils make a difference, especially to those who mostly oppose immigration and to ICE officers in the building, Sister Linda Lukiewski of the Sisters of St. Joseph said she was not sure.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I know they know we’re there. I don’t know if it changes policy. But what I do know is it gives people hope.”
Sister Sharon White and Brother Robert Schieler helped present the opening remarks to the crowd, calling on people to pray in anticipation of the feast of All Saints’ Day and the feast of the Holy Souls, and calling on those in attendance to “keep in mind those who have died at the hands of ICE and state-sponsored violence.”
They said they gathered to pause, reflect, and recognize the dignity of every person.
“In this season of Thanksgiving, we recognize that true abundance is not found in overflowing tables, but in communities that demand justice for all, White said. “We give profound thanks for the advocates, lawyers, and volunteers who relentlessly fight for those caught in the system. May their courage ignite our own commitment to action and solidarity and love.”
