In Chicago, clergy and faith-based protesters say ICE is threatening their religious freedom

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

It was one of several dramatic and violent scenes that unfolded in recent weeks near an ICE detention facility in Broadview, Illinois. About 12 miles from downtown Chicago, the suburban site has seen scores of demonstrators repeatedly confront ICE agents — sometimes jeering at agents or using acts of civil disobedience to block the entrance to the facility as part of a groundswell of protests against President Donald Trump’s ongoing immigration crackdown in the city. The agents, mostly masked, have often responded with force, arresting demonstrators, tossing gas canisters, firing nonlethal rounds at activists and journalists and sometimes throwing protesters — including at least one local Democratic congressional candidate — to the ground.


https://religionnews.com/2025/10/07/in-chicago-clergy-and-religious-protesters-say-ice-is-threatening-their-religious-freedom/