CHICAGO — A federal judge on Tuesday allowed clergy members from the Chicago area to minister to migrants at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview during Easter and Holy Week, issuing the order amid calls for broader access that have even been echoed by Pope Leo XIV.

Following a hearing at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman ordered the Trump administration to allow clergy members into the west suburban facility over the objection of the government, but the mandate is limited to Thursday through Sunday, which mark the holiest days in the Catholic faith. The judge also allowed people to pray outside the facility while on federal property.

Gettleman urged the government to find ways to come to a settlement that would enable ongoing access consistent with what has historically been regular practice at the facility in years past.

“The religious interests far outweigh any interest the government has articulated,” Gettleman said.

Officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A coalition of faith leaders filed a lawsuit in November asking a judge to order the government to allow clergy members to minister to people held in the facility. The complaint came shortly after a class-action lawsuit alleged broader human rights violations in the processing center, arguing that the administration of President Donald Trump turned the facility into a “black box” with immigration attorneys unable to visit clients amid overcrowding and other substandard conditions.

The Broadview facility became a focal point for resistance to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement practices during Operation Midway Blitz this fall, with sometimes chaotic protests happening outside its walls. During the height of the operation, the processing facility functioned more like a detention center, attorneys have alleged, with people being housed there for days without sufficient food and water or space to lay down and sleep.

Thomas Geoghegan, an attorney representing the faith leaders, told Gettleman during Tuesday’s hearing that religious leaders successfully ministered to people inside the facility on Ash Wednesday without any security concerns arising. In fact, he said, their presence was even welcomed by officers inside.

“Some of the officials out of the Broadview facility actually asked for distribution of ashes themselves and welcomed this and welcomed us and said please come back,” Geoghegan said.

The complaint argues that a refusal by DHS to allow religious ministry on site violates their right to practice their religion.

“The plaintiffs are kind of at a loss as to why the government is taking such a hard line,” Geoghegan said, arguing that the presence of clergy has not created any apparent operational problems.

In response, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Terman said the government allows religious ministry inside detention centers, but draws a line for facilities that only process people for shorter periods. Terman argued that the faith leaders can practice their religion by ministering to people held in out-of-state detention centers.

“Those locations require further travel which may pose inconveniences ... but plaintiffs have a way of fulfilling their religious mandate,” she said.

Geoghegan, though, told the judge that people processed at the Broadview facility are members of local parishes, sometimes practicing in local communities for decades.

“The pope himself urged the government to allow ... clergy in this case to minister to detainees at Broadview,” he said.

Pope Leo XIV, the Chicago-born leader of the Catholic Church, was asked about the denial of clergy access at the facility last year.

“I would certainly invite the authorities to allow pastoral workers to attend to the needs of those people,” he said. “Many times they’ve been separated from their families for a good amount of time; no one knows what’s happening, but their own spiritual needs should be attended to.”

Gettleman said his order would address government security concerns in allowing officials notice about who would be coming into the facility. He also ordered the parties back into court next week to report on how the visits went.

“We have the holiest Catholic holidays coming up beginning this Friday,” he said, noting that he himself is not Catholic.

In an unrelated housekeeping matter, Gettleman also noted that former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem would be replaced in the suit by her successor, Markwayne Mullin, who was sworn in last week. Gettleman also asked who would replace Gregory Bovino, the controversial U.S. Border Patrol commander-at-large who roamed around American cities before retiring.

Terman said she was still trying to figure that out, but that it appears the position “doesn’t exist anymore.”

____

©2026 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.