The Dean of St David’s Episcopal Church in Minnetonka has described church resistance to ICE raids this winter as “holy”.
Dean Katherine Lewis told the Anglican Journal that seeing her church support their local community through protests has felt like a spiritual experience. She was one of several Christians arrested this winter, while protesting ICE’s presence in her state.
“Something holy is happening,” she said. “The extreme cold, the singing, the media, the public presence … for me personally, it was kind of mystical.”
Churches in Minnesota, Washington, and Los Angeles have been actively protesting the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
In Minnesota, some churchgoers formed “rapid response teams” to observe ICE activity, and provided food and legal funds for families at risk of detention.
In the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, faith leaders joined thousands of protestors in a day of action on 23 January, which saw a widespread strike.
The event was described by The New York Times as the first general strike in the United States in 80 years. A large interfaith protest took place at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport, a key site for deportation flights. Around 100 clergy were arrested, including Dean Jered Weber-Johnson, rector of St John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in St Paul.
Clergy and supporters gathered to chant, sing, and pray the Lord’s Prayer, carrying signs bearing images of people detained by ICE.
Each protester also carried a slip of paper with the name and details of a person they were representing in prayer and public witness.
Dean Jered described the political climate as: “a moment for the church to speak with moral clarity.”