Minnesota Churches Pray For Peace After Fatal ICE Shootings
Patrick Doherty’s wife, Corinne, texted him with the news Friday: Agents with ICE — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — had converged on the family’s suburban Minnesota neighborhood.
Doherty preaches for the Woodbury Church of Christ in a growing community east of St. Paul.
“The street we live on is maybe predominantly immigrant,” the father of three said. “For several of our neighbors, English isn’t their first language.”
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Mexico. Cuba. Southeast Asia. The East African nation of Eritrea. These are just a few of his neighbors’ native lands.
ICE showing up wasn’t entirely surprising, given that President Donald Trump has made Minnesota a major focus of his administration’s nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration.
Since December, the Department of Homeland Security has deployed about 3,000 federal agents to the state where Tim Walz — the 2024 running mate for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris — serves as governor.
“Most everybody has had some impact by it,” Doherty said of how the crackdown has touched his neighbors and fellow Christians. “It can be everything from their favorite restaurant is shut down because the workers aren’t available to someone they know is detained.”
Seeking ‘calmer hearts’
Local and state leaders have clashed with Homeland Security officials over the Minnesota operation. Protests by citizens have erupted in the streets.
Agents’ fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens — Renee Good earlier this month and Alex Pretti on Saturday — have exacerbated the tensions and sparked widespread debate about the federal government’s tactics. In all, at least six people have died in the nationwide immigration enforcement campaign.
At Churches of Christ in the Twin Cities area, Christians devoted time Sunday to prayer and reflection on the ongoing turmoil.
“There are so many troubles that are on our minds this morning,” elder Ron Delamarter prayed at the Richfield Church of Christ in a Minneapolis suburb.
“The events in this city have torn us — the loss of life,” Delamarter added. “And we look to you for guidance, knowing that your will will be done in this circumstance, Lord. We don’t understand exactly why these things are taking place, but we pray for leaders that have calmer hearts and calmer minds and will resolve this peacefully.”
Within two miles of where Good and Pretti died, elder John Austion of the Minneapolis Central Church of Christ urged members to remain strong in their faith and not give into fear.
“I already love the Lord,” Austion said before leading the congregation in singing “I Really Love the Lord.” “If you don’t love the Lord by now, something is wrong because the Lord has been keeping us out of harm’s way so far.
“ICE has been to my job twice, harassing my co-workers,” the Costco employee added. “But I just want you to know that God has got us.”
Even still, the predominantly Black congregation has seen Sunday attendance numbers drop as members stay home out of fear, minister Russell A. Pointer Sr. told The Christian Chronicle.
The congregation doesn’t have a lot of immigrant members, but “people are still scared to come out of their houses,” Pointer said. “People are on edge just because they (federal agents) have the propensity and the proclivity to pick on people of color.
“They’re shooting Whites,” he added, referring to Good and Pretti, “but they’re picking on people of color, so they’ll pull you over.”
Food distribution numbers down
Minneapolis Central organizes a weekly Saturday food giveaway with a high proportion of immigrant clients.
However, the number of families served has dropped from about 250 to 300 a week before the crackdown to roughly 150, the minister said.
“They’re scared to come,” said Pointer, who has started working at home most days rather than driving to his church office.
He’s emphasizing prayer and fasting for the congregation.
“We feel like a Third World country,” he said. “We’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s unprecedented. And so to deal with this, we have to fast and pray.”
Elsewhere in the Twin Cities, the Roseville Church of Christ — a predominantly African immigrant congregation with members from Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia and Togo — prayed for peace to reign.
“We prayed for the people that are being affected,” said Richard Inyang, the church’s Nigerian-born minister. “And we show love and empathy for them. But at the same time, we always advise people to be law-abiding immigrants, law-abiding citizens. Work to get your path to become a citizen, but don’t break the law.”
Inyang said he urges church members to make sure they carry legal documentation and passports with them in case agents stop them. A few members have stopped attending worship out of fear, but the minister said he doesn’t know if they are in the U.S. legally or not.
Inyang, who survived a 2024 fire that nearly killed him, recently traveled on an annual mission trip to Nigeria and neighboring Cameroon. After returning, he took his family to lunch at a favorite Chinese buffet restaurant.
“In normal times, we stand in line to get food,” he said. “But that Sunday was just like scanty — you see only the Americans and a very few people of color.
“In general, everywhere is looking kind of quiet because of the situation,” he added. “Most of the restaurants — you don’t find a lot of people. And the streets and other places are kind of quiet.”
Looking for answers in Scriptures
At the Woodbury church, the congregation where Doherty preaches, all four elders read Scriptures, made brief comments and prayed for Minnesota — and the nation.
“The elders wrestle with and think and talk about how we should respond, what we should do, how to be wise, how to be balanced, how to share that we care,” elder Bruce Goodwin said in his remarks. “We believe that one of those ways is simply by reading from the Word, hearing what God has to say and also praying.”
Elder Matt Robinson told the congregation: “As Christians, our response to this present crisis will look different than that of the president or the governor, as our king is Jesus.”
In his sermon, Doherty mentioned the ICE raid on his street.
“I think what’s happening in our cities is wrong, and I realize you can disagree,” he said to fellow Christians. “I think the deaths are tragic, and I know we all agree on that.”
Doherty emphasized the importance of Christians maintaining unity, even if they disagree on certain matters.
The minister said he ate lunch with a friend of a different political persuasion after ICE showed up in his neighborhood.
“I think if you cannot sit across from somebody you disagree with, you’ve got to check your heart,” he said. “Jesus had zealots and tax collectors and traitors on his team, and he washed all their feet.”
Latino family ‘pretty rattled’
After the ICE raid, Doherty went to check on Latino neighbors who live about five doors from him.
The family has “a lot of kids” who often play outside, the minister said.
He feared the father or mother might have been detained.
When he knocked on the front door, no one answered. At least not immediately.
But when the father recognized Doherty, he came outside.
“Is everybody OK?” the preacher asked.
“We’re good,” the man responded.
“He said his son had gone out to check the mail, and when that happened, ICE agents had grabbed him,” Doherty told the Chronicle. “They brought him back into the house, and they demanded to see everyone’s documents.
“Nobody was detained. Everybody was legal. … But the family was pretty rattled, as you can imagine.”
Doherty said he was simply trying to be a good neighbor.
“If there was something that we could do — groceries or any sort of support or rides — you just don’t know how it’s going to unfold,” he said. “So I was just trying to be aware and available.”
This article was originally published in The Christian Chronicle.
Bobby Ross Jr. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Reach him at bobby@christianchronicle.org.