Fear of ICE Enforcement Leads to Church Closure

From CBS News:

After more than 100 years, a Roman Catholic church in Detroit is closing, partly because Hispanics who worship there fear immigration agents. The final Mass at All Saints Church was celebrated Sunday on Detroit’s southwest side.

The congregation of 300 families will be encouraged to attend St. Gabriel, a nearby church.

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All Saints was founded in 1896 and has been at its current site since the early 1900s, the Detroit Free Press reported Saturday.

The pastor at St. Gabriel, the Rev. Marc Gawronski, said there are many reasons for the closing of All Saints. The church has weak finances, needs repairs and has been losing members. A construction project on Interstate 75 has hurt attendance.

Gawronski said there has been an increase in raids and enforcement by federal immigration agents in the community.

Immigration agents have an “informal agreement that they have affirmed that they will not go into churches and not hassle people going to church,” he said. Nonetheless, “people are even nervous about being able to get up in the morning and go to church.” Read more…

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