Pastors and other religious leaders detained or deported

Stories describe pastors, priests, nuns, and rabbis detained by ICE at airports, churches, traffic stops, and routine check-ins across states including Texas, Colorado, Wisconsin, Oregon, and New York. Several describe denial of medication or medical care in custody, prolonged detention of months, and deportation to countries including Haiti, Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Equatorial Guinea, separating clergy from U.S. citizen spouses and children. First documented February 2025, recurring since August 2025, with a roughly steady share of reported cases over time.

“I said I am not afraid and then they pointed a gun in my face, and the crowd was chanting louder and louder, they were also chanting at this time, ‘we are not afraid, we are not afraid.’ ICE put handcuffs on my hands and put me in a black SUV,”