Christian churches have encouraged their congregations to oppose U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after many took part in bring migrants into the U.S.
Clergy in Minnesota and beyond have spoken out against ICE since the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. Some of the actions of the clergy include the teaching of potentially radicalizing ideas against law enforcement, the demanding of access to immigration detainees and the continued support for a statewide economic “blackout” Jan. 23, even after many protesters faced criminal allegations for storming a church service. The blackout calls for residents of the state to avoid taking their kids to school, working or shopping. (RELATED: Trump Can Protect Christians With The Same Law Biden Used To Persecute Them)
“We are asking every single person, every family member, every teacher, every bus driver, every childcare worker, to come together, to be a community, to stand with one another,” Auxiliary Minister at Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church JaNaé Bates Imari said at a press briefing announcing the blackout on Jan. 13. “What we have seen and what we have witnessed, what we have all gone through, is not normal.”
Imari, who is also a co-executive director of the interfaith organization Isaiah, said Jan. 23 will be “a day of truth and freedom.”
The First Congregational Church of Minnesota joined in, showing support for the blackout on Facebook. The church also held a stand-in at Target’s headquarters in Minneapolis until “Target stands up and speaks out with us, demanding ICE out of MN.”
“It’s time for all of us to use our power to do the right thing, including our corporate leaders,” the church’s Facebook post said, with a link to a livestream of the walk-in. “We will be here until the CEO agrees to speak with us.”
ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA – JANUARY 19: Anti-ICE demonstrators protest inside a Target store on January 19, 2026 in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
After not being granted immediate access to ICE detainees on Jan. 13, the minister for justice organizing at Creekside United Church of Christ, the Rev. Susie Hayward, joined other reverends of the church in prayer at the ICE facility in Minneapolis, calling for the “transformation of the hearts” of the agency’s personnel, according to the National Catholic Reporter.
“May your Holy Spirit displace and disrupt and transform within them so that they might be called back to your path of love, to repent,” she continued.
“I would ask, God, that you come up alongside all of those who are being held here unjustly,” Hayward added. “May you meet them in their fear. May you meet them in their grief. May you help them to understand that you, God, stand with them, the most vulnerable.”
Upon leaving, the Rev. T. Michael Rock of the United Church of Christ claimed “[t]he immigration system is completely broken. It was before, and it’s even worse now. And making the problem worse is not helping our people,” according to the NCR.
Church World Service, which represents 37 Christian churches such as the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church, has resettled over 865,000 refugees since its inception, according to its website.
A multi-faith vigil has been held outside the Minneapolis ICE facility monthly since 2018, with the vigil on Jan. 13 being led by a Catholic group, with signs held referencing Pope Francis and a song performed by a Native American leader, the NCR reported.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) worked with the State Department to resettle approximately 18% of all refugees that arrive in the U.S. each year through their over 65 affiliate offices nationwide, according to a now-deleted page on the USCCB website.
In 2023 alone, the USCCB reported that they had spent $129.6 million of federal grants and contracts on refugee relocation.
Since Good’s death, many Presbyterian congregations in Minnesota have been mobilized in protest, with many congregants having been taught to work as so-called ‘legal observers’ and ‘bystanders’ to observe ICE operations, according to The Presbyterian Outlook.
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – DECEMBER 1: An anti-ICE message is displayed on a board at First Grace United Methodist Church ahead of a protest against immigration raids on December 1, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Ryan Murphy/Getty Images)
“We want ICE to leave. They are creating an unsafe environment with intimidation designed to terrorize the population in retribution for not being Trump’s allies,” Presbyterian pastor Zachary Wilson said, according to the Outlook. “Minnesota is being targeted, and it is racially motivated.”
One Episcopal reverend in Minneapolis, Susan Daughtry, told her congregation that they live in a state of “[m]ade-for-TV fascism” in a sermon. “We see federal officers reacting with violence when people exercise their right to observe them. … We saw them kill a woman in broad daylight.”
Anti-ICE sentiments have been expressed at churches beyond Minnesota.
In Ohio, Episcopal Rev. Jed Dearing told congregants that they were “presented with the rise of fascism in our country” as “federal forces are unleashed in our cities, able to kidnap migrant neighbors, to harm, to kill with impunity,” according to Episcopal News Service.
Another out-of-state Episcopal bishop, Rob Hirschfeld, told attendees of a vigil for Good in New Hampshire that they had entered “a new era of martyrdom.” (RELATED: DC Suburb Moves To Ban ICE From Government Property, Unmask Agents)
Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) ended its work relocating migrants after the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program was shut down in April. Before then, EMM had received over $50 million of yearly federal funding to support their cause, according to EMM
The church has said that they stand against mass deportation and offered an “immigration Action Toolkit.” It also created a Rainbow Initiative Congregation which focused on LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers, according to a now deleted EMM page.
“Whatever race, whatever gender, whatever orientation—straight, queer, trans—you have been made in the image of the divine,” Hirschfeld said in a prayer. “God has always and will always protect you no matter what happens. So live in that without fear. God supports you, protects you and loves you with a power and a presence that is stronger than death. That is how we live free or die.”
The Daily Caller reached out to the Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church, the First Congregational Church of Minnesota and Isaiah for comment.