2026年2月19日 下午3:45 UTC / 路透社
- 摘要
- 法庭裁定允许神职人员在圣灰星期三进入拘留所探视
- 神职人员自2020年起被禁止进入该设施
- 天主教领袖在移民打击行动中倡导移民权利
伊利诺伊州布鲁德维尤，2月19日（路透社） – 六年来首次，在一名法官下令允许宗教领袖进入后，两名神父和一名修女在警方护送下，穿过带刺铁丝网和混凝土障碍，进入芝加哥地区的一个移民拘留中心，为被拘留者分发圣餐和圣灰。
天主教神父保罗·凯勒（Paul Keller）回忆了圣灰星期三当天，拘留中心内移民们震惊且泪流满面的神情。他的手因涂抹圣灰而变黑，凯勒称这是一场长达数月的法庭抗争后，既苦又甜的时刻——他们终于获准进入该设施，为被拘留者提供宗教服务。
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根据“精神与公共领导力联盟”（Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership）的说法，自2020年新冠疫情开始以来，神职人员一直被禁止进入芝加哥西部的布鲁德维尤设施。
“我们正在处理一个本应毫无争议的问题，即与被拘留者一起祈祷并给予他们一些安慰，”凯勒告诉路透社，“不幸的是，这一切是因为一场诉讼才得以实现。”
在特朗普政府去年秋季发动的名为“中途闪电战”（Midway Blitz）的数月行动中，武装并戴面罩的联邦探员在芝加哥及其郊区展开行动，拘留了政府指控威胁美国人安全的移民。探员向居民区发射催泪瓦斯，逮捕抗议者，在暴力拘留过程中使用泰瑟枪，向居民举枪并造成两人死亡，其中一人为平民。
原告在诉讼中称，国土安全部称被拘留的4200多人中，许多人被塞进布鲁德维尤设施进行处理，有时甚至在溢出的马桶旁睡在地板上。
数月来，抗议者聚集在该设施外，在移民局人员发射的胡椒弹和催泪弹爆炸声中高呼口号、咒骂。而周三，这里一片宁静，只有信徒们祈祷玫瑰经和唱圣歌的声音。
圣灰星期三，人们会在额头涂抹十字形状的灰，象征忏悔，这一节日标志着大斋期的开始。
我们从未忘记他们
在芝加哥长大的教皇利奥（Pope Leo）和其他天主教领袖，在美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的移民打击行动中，已成为移民权利的激烈支持者。在附近教堂的一次慷慨激昂的布道中，芝加哥大主教布莱斯·库皮奇（Blaise Cupich）强调了移民的人性。
“上帝不需要文件来了解你的处境或身份，”库皮奇说，“当你在秘密中哭泣时，他看见你；当你在无人注视时为孩子辛勤工作时，他看见你；当你牺牲自身舒适汇款回家时，他看见你。”
神父和修女离开布鲁德维尤设施后，数千人手持玫瑰经念珠、支持移民的标语和蜡烛，聚集参加弥撒。
这次弥撒遵循了传统天主教弥撒的结构，包括圣经朗读、数千名参与者的歌声和香烟缭绕——但也特别加入了为移民家庭祈祷、为亲人被拘留者祝福，以及为近几个月被联邦移民局人员杀害的三人（西维里奥·维莱加斯·罗德里格斯、蕾妮·古德和亚历克斯·普雷蒂）的灵魂祈祷。
“这是让移民和布鲁德维尤居民知道，他们并不孤单，我们从未忘记他们，”芝加哥洛约拉大学学生卡米拉·查韦斯（Kamila Chavez）说，她也参加了这次活动。
芝加哥长老会牧师大卫·布莱克（David Black）表示，进入该设施对那些深受移民局人员创伤的居民来说是一场胜利。他本人在10月的布鲁德维尤行动中被胡椒喷雾喷射，头部还被胡椒弹击中。2月13日，一名法官裁定，阻止宗教领袖进入该设施侵犯了他们的宗教信仰自由权。
“圣灰星期三是我们铭记‘我们源自尘土，终将归于尘土’的日子，”布莱克牧师说，“这是基督徒铭记世界帝国从灰烬中崛起，又在灰烬中覆灭的日子。”
报道：希瑟·施利茨（Heather Schlitz）
编辑：艾米丽·施马尔（Emily Schmall）、迪帕·巴宾顿（Deepa Babington）
我们的准则：路透社信托原则
Catholic leaders bring communion to immigration detainees near Chicago after court win
February 19, 2026 3:45 PM UTC / Reuters
- Summary
- Court ruling allowed clergy access to detainees for Ash Wednesday
- Clergy had been barred from facility since 2020
- Catholic leaders advocate for immigrant rights amid crackdown
BROADVIEW, Illinois, Feb 19 (Reuters) – For the first time in six years, two priests and a nun escorted by police have walked past barbed wire and concrete barriers to enter a Chicago-area immigration facility to give communion and ashes to detainees after a judge ordered faith leaders be allowed inside.
Catholic priest Paul Keller recounted the shocked and tear-stained faces of the immigrants at the facility on Ash Wednesday. His hands stained black from distributing ashes, Keller described it as a bittersweet moment after a months-long court battle to gain access to the facility in order to minister to detainees.
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Clergy had not entered the Broadview facility west of Chicago since the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020, according to the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership.
“We’re dealing with what should be a very non-controversial issue, which is praying with people who are detained and providing them some comfort,” Keller told Reuters. “It’s unfortunate that it’s happening because of a lawsuit.”
During the Trump administration’s months-long operation last fall dubbed “Midway Blitz,” armed and masked federal agents fanned out across Chicago and its suburbs to detain immigrants the administration accused of threatening the safety of Americans. Agents tear-gassed residential neighborhoods, arrested protesters, used Tasers on people during violent detentions, pointed guns at residents and shot two people, including one fatally.
Many of the more than 4,200 people who the Department of Homeland Security said were detained were packed into the Broadview facility for processing, sometimes sleeping on the floor amid overflowing toilets, plaintiffs said in a lawsuit.
For months, protesters gathered outside the facility, chanting and cursing amid the staccato cracks of pepper balls and tear gas grenades from immigration agents hitting the ground. On Wednesday, it was quiet except for the sounds of the faithful praying the rosary and singing hymns.
On Ash Wednesday, people receive ashes smeared in the shape of a cross on their foreheads as a symbol of repentance, and the holiday marks the beginning of Lent.
‘WE HAVEN’T FORGOTTEN ABOUT THEM’
Pope Leo, who grew up outside Chicago, and other Catholic leaders have emerged as fierce proponents of immigrant rights during U.S. President Donald Trump’s crackdown, and in an impassioned homily at a nearby church, Chicago Archbishop Blaise Cupich stressed the humanity of immigrants.
“God does not need papers to know where you are or who you are,” Cupich said. “When you cry in secret, he sees you. When you work hard for your children while no one is watching, he sees you. He sees you when you sacrifice your own comfort to send money back home.”
Thousands of people carrying rosary beads, pro-immigrant signs and candles gathered for the Mass after the priest and nuns left the Broadview facility.
It followed the same structure as any Catholic Mass, with Bible readings, swells of singing from the thousands of attendees and plumes of incense — but it also included prayers for immigrant families, special blessings for those whose loved ones had been detained and petitions for the souls of Silverio Villegas Rodriguez, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, the three people killed by federal immigration agents in recent months.
“It’s letting immigrants and people in Broadview know that they’re not alone and that we haven’t forgotten about them,” said Kamila Chavez, a student at Loyola University in Chicago in attendance.
Access to the facility marked a victory for residents who have been deeply traumatized by immigration agents, said Reverend David Black, a Presbyterian pastor in Chicago who was pepper-sprayed and shot in the head by a pepper ball by federal agents at Broadview in October. On February 13, a judge ruled that preventing religious leaders from accessing the facility was a burden on their right to exercise religion.
“Ash Wednesday is a day that we remember that we are dust and that we will return to dust,” said Rev. Black. “It’s a day that Christians remember that the empires of this world rise out of ashes and fall back into ashes.”
Reporting by Heather Schlitz. Editing by Emily Schmall and Deepa Babington
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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