Archbishop: ICE agents don’t plan to raid churches over holidays

Immigration enforcement officers have told religious leaders they won’t raid Minnesota’s churches this holiday season, the state’s highest ranking Catholic leader said.

Local Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials told the archdiocese they have no intention of entering churches and schools unless there is an imminent public safety threat, said Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who leads the 800,000-member Twin Cities archdiocese.

“We are unaware of any enforcement actions in our parishes and schools in these past weeks and months and have no reason to believe that will change,” Hebda said in a statement on the archdiocese website on Dec. 23.

The archbishop also called for a lowering of the “temperature of rhetoric” as fears rise among the state’s immigrants due to an increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in Minnesota.

Hebda called on elected officials, law enforcement and immigrants in Minnesota to “stop fear-filled speculation and start seeing all people as created in the image and likeness of God.”

Hebda’s statement comes as Gov. Tim Walz said there could be a surge of ICE agents in the state over the next two weeks.

Walz said the Trump administration is not sharing any information with the state about this month’s “Operation Metro Surge” but he said he was expecting an increase as early as Christmas Eve.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a written statement that it is enforcing federal immigration law and deporting undocumented immigrants who’ve committed crimes.

“Elected officials choosing to fearmonger by distorting reality are doing a great disservice to our country and are responsible for the nearly 1,150% increase in assaults on ICE officers,” said Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, in a written statement on Dec. 22.

Federal officials did not immediately respond for a request for additional comment Wednesday morning.

Across the state, some city leaders have called the surge in immigration enforcement a “tinderbox.”

On Sunday, an ICE agent fired shots in St. Paul after he was struck by a suspect attempting to flee in a vehicle, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

McLaughlin has pushed back on claims that their officers are racially profiling, saying that such allegations are “disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE.”

Some Catholic bishops have voiced concern over the rescinding of policies that limited enforcement at “sensitive” locations, such as churches, schools, shelters and hospitals.

In February, a statement by the eight bishops who constitute the membership of the Minnesota Catholic Conference issued a statement calling for immigration reform with pathways to legal status for long-term undocumented residents.

The statement said the bishops offer wholehearted support for the Trump administration’s actions to detain and deport immigrants with criminal records, but added that they oppose indiscriminate enforcement that threatens to unnecessarily or unjustly separate families.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, one St. Paul parishioner said the archbishop’s words stressed the role of the church as a refuge for those in need.