Episcopal clergy travel to Minneapolis to march in ‘ICE Out of Minnesota’ day of action

By David Paulsen, Episcopal News Service

Washington Bishop Mariann Budde speaks Jan. 22 during a news conference by clergy about immigration actions in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo: Jack Jenkins/Religion News Service

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal clergy and lay leaders are among the hundreds of people of faith from across the United States who have traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota, for a day of public witness and political action on Jan. 23 in opposition to what they are calling an “occupation” of the city by federal immigration authorities.

The “ICE Out of Minnesota” day of action, organized by local advocacy groups and community partners, called for a daylong “unified statewide pause in daily economic activity,” as they urged businesses to close for the day, families to keep students home from school and employees to refuse to work (except emergency services).

Organizers scheduled an afternoon protest march in downtown Minneapolis as the day’s focal point, to demand that Immigration and Customs Enforcement leave the city and to call for justice for Renee Good, the 37-year-old resident who was shot and killed by ICE two weeks ago.

Minnesota’s Episcopal diocese invited members who were able to brave the day’s subzero temperatures to join Bishop Craig Loya and other clergy at the protest march. Other Episcopal leaders from outside the diocese have traveled to Minneapolis to show their support, including Washington Bishop Mariann Budde and Iowa Bishop Betsey Monnot.

“The response from clergy around the country, interfaith clergy, has been overwhelming,” Loya told Episcopal News Service in a phone interview on the eve of the day of action. He said event organizers were expecting 300 visitors and ended up confirming more than twice that number, with hundreds more expressing interest.

Since Good’s Jan. 7 killing on a residential street and the Trump administration’s subsequent escalation of immigration enforcement actions in the city, Loya said he and his staff have been focused almost entirely on the diocese’s response and congregations’ support for their neighbors.

“We are witnessing and experiencing a campaign of reckless cruelty carried out by the federal government to intimidate and instill fear in the people of Minnesota,” Loya said. “And I’m also seeing the faith and broader community in Minnesota respond with a sacrificial neighborly love that is overwhelming and for which I am deeply grateful.”

Episcopal congregations are joining a variety of efforts to assist residents who can’t leave their homes because they are afraid that ICE will arrest and detain them or their children. Neighborhood networks have mobilized, for example, to deliver groceries and other supplies to people at home and to accompany people to medical appointments and to schools.

Despite the cruelty carried out by federal authorities, Loya said he has been heartened by what he has witnessed of neighbors helping neighbors. That is “something much more powerful,” he said, “when people come together to love one another.”

The Rev. DeWayne Davis addresses a news conference Jan. 22 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Episcopal Bishop Craig Loya stands to the right. Photo: Jack Jenkins/Religion News Service

Faith leaders have been stepping up their demonstrations against ICE’s presence in the city for several days. On Jan. 20, many of those leaders held a news conference to announce their support for “ICE Out of Minnesota.”

Then on Jan. 22, Loya was among some 200 faith leaders who blanketed the city to document ICE actions in neighborhoods with large immigrant populations. Budde spoke at a news conference after the faith leaders returned from the neighborhoods, as reported by Religion News Service.

“Join us in sending a message to all our elected officials that no agency should have license to arbitrarily arrest and detain people without due process,” said Budde, a former parish priest from Minnesota who drew national attention a year ago when during a Service of Prayer for the Nation at Washington National Cathedral she directly asked President Donald Trump to show mercy to those living in fear.

“To harm and even kill those who bear witness to what is happening — this is a bright-line moment for our country and our values,” she said in Minneapolis.“In our varied and united faith traditions, love of neighbor is not optional.”

The next morning, over 2,000 people reportedly signed in to a “National Prayer Call for Minnesota” to kick off the Jan. 23 day of action.

“We have hundreds of clergy who are gathering to march together,” the Rev. JaNae Bates said to open the Zoom call. She is co-executive director of ISAIAH, a St. Paul-based nonprofit that was one of the lead organizers of the day’s events. “We’re standing collectively together, challenging ICE.”

Later that morning, a large group of demonstrators gathered outside Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, where many people detained by ICE are loaded onto planes and flown to detention facilities. Local news reports indicate dozens of clergy members were arrested in the demonstration, thought it wasn’t immediately clear if any Episcopal leaders were among them.

The Episcopal diocese encouraged its members to gather in the afternoon at a downtown church building for brief prayers before walking over to the main march’s nearby starting point. The march was scheduled to culminate in a rally at the downtown Target Center.

Monnot previously said in a message to the Diocese of Iowa that she was following the call to Minneapolis “to protest the inhumane and unconstitutional actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as they harass, intimidate, abuse, and detain our neighbors.”

“Our hope as gathered clergy is to provide a peaceful and prayerful presence, to de-escalate tensions, and to promote the safety of all present,” Monnot said. “In my mind this includes protestors, people targeted by ICE, local police, members of the National Guard, and ICE agents themselves.”

Other events were planned for later in the day. For Episcopalians who live in Minneapolis, the work will continue after the crowds go home.

“None of us know at this moment how this ends,” Loya told ENS, but he is grateful for the support his diocese has been receiving from across The Episcopal Church. It has been “incredibly nourishing to all of us.”

See also Wisdom from the Episcopal Bishop of Minnesota

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