Catholic clergy marched with demonstrators in downtown LA Monday morning to support hearings into alleged civil rights violations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Southern California.
About 100 demonstrators, including LA Mayor Karen Bass, walked Nov. 24 from Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church (“La Placita”) near downtown LA to the Metropolitan Water District, where Bass and U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) hosted a hearing with testimony from community leaders, experts, and affected families about the harm caused by the federal immigration sweeps that began in June.
Joining Bass in the procession was LA Auxiliary Bishop Matt Elshoff, OFM, Cap. and Father Arturo Corral, pastor of La Placita.
“Our inherent dignity, whether you're documented or undocumented, ultimately comes from God, and it's channeled through his son, Jesus Christ, whose actions we need to follow,” Bishop Elshoff told the crowd before the start of the procession.
Elshoff also explained that during their fall meeting in Baltimore this month, his fellow US bishops had issued a “Special Message” on immigration. The statement was released with the encouragement of Pope Leo XIV, whom Elshoff reminded marchers had recently said that people in the U.S. illegally should be treated with dignity and that their status can be addressed through the justice system.
The procession was organized by non-profit organization One LA-IAF, which is affiliated with the national Industrial Areas Foundation and said it’s been “documenting violations of civil rights” related to the raids. Representatives from groups like Immigrant Defenders Law Center and The Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) also marched.
Carrying signs that said “Due process for all” and “End the violence!”, the crowd marched east singing a rendition of the civil rights era protest song “Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round.”
The rally came as the Trump administration’s efforts to ramp up deportations of undocumented immigrants continue in the LA area and other U.S. cities. Garcia, a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, announced last month with Bass that Congress would investigate the arrests of US citizens by ICE agents and the immigration raids themselves.
Father Brendan Busse, SJ, pastor at Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights since 2022, was one of those who spoke at the hearing. He described the chilling effects of the raids on his parish community, speaking of people hiding in their apartments out of fear, and a woman “paralyzed in grief” after losing her daughter to a failed organ transplant. The woman, Busse said, hesitated to give her daughter a proper burial, afraid of drawing attention to her immigration status.
“The fear and trauma of this enforcement affects us all in ways that are often unseen,” said Busse, who also said he’s spoken to hospital workers who feel unsupported or unsure about how to offer care to patients in ICE custody.
Isaac Cuevas, director of immigration affairs for the Archdiocese of LA, believes it was important that the Catholic Church had a visible presence at the procession and congressional hearing.
“Based on the testimony that we heard today, it's evident that communities in LA are really being affected by the overhanded tactics used by immigration agents,” said Cuevas, who attended the rally.
As he was marching alongside Bass and community leaders on Monday, Elshoff said images from the 1960s civil rights movement of religious leaders marching alongside community leaders began to run through his mind.
“It’s a different era, a different language, a different culture,” said Elshoff. “But we’re dealing with the same issue, that of the inherent dignity of people.”
