SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The Department of Homeland Security says agents have arrested more than 3,000 people in Chicago since immigration enforcement actions began there in early September. Immigrants have been changing their routines because of the crackdown, sometimes missing work or school. And as Adora Namigadde and Aleja Hertzler-McCain of Religion News Service report, some people are also staying home from church.
ALEJA HERTZLER-MCCAIN: Three men sit on plastic chairs in a basement in Chicago.
ADORA NAMIGADDE: They say Mass at their parish feels like home in Guatemala, but now they're too afraid of being detained by ICE if they go to church.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Through interpreter) We decided to stay home, go to work and rest. And on Sundays, it's better to stay at home because we have these dreams.
NAMIGADDE: Dreams of making sure his daughter back home gets a good education.
HERTZLER-MCCAIN: These men agreed to be interviewed as long as we don't give their names because they fear deportation. And we agreed not to name their parish because they worry it could be targeted.
NAMIGADDE: About a year ago, the men were in a severe car accident. One family member died.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Through interpreter) When we needed it most, they helped us a lot. And many, many sisters here from this parish came to us to lift our spirits when we were in bed.
NAMIGADDE: The men tell us Mass is the one place they found community since coming to the U.S.
HERTZLER-MCCAIN: And not feeling safe enough to go weighs heavy.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Through interpreter) It hits close to your heart. Well, it feels like - it feels horrible.
HERTZLER-MCCAIN: After the accident, the parish's migration ministry helped them pay rent and living expenses until they could go back to work as roofers.
NAMIGADDE: The volunteer who helped make that happen doesn't have legal status, either. He came to the U.S. from Mexico 28 years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Through interpreter) Many of us are afraid to go to work, to go to a restaurant, to go to church because everyone, everybody is afraid of encountering ICE.
BLASE CUPICH: We need to be honest, as a country, about why people are here and why they do not have documents.
NAMIGADDE: Cardinal Blase Cupich is the Archbishop of Chicago.
CUPICH: It's because we have failed, and our legislators on both sides of the aisle have failed to enact comprehensive immigration reform.
NAMIGADDE: The Department of Homeland Security tells NPR that agents use discretion when enforcing immigration law at houses of worship, and agents need approval from a supervisor before taking action in locations such as churches.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing in Spanish).
HERTZLER-MCCAIN: In September, St. Oscar Romero Catholic Parish on Chicago's South Side dedicated its three-mile jubilee pilgrimage to praying for migrants. Fr. Carmelo Mendez says Mass attendance there is down about 40%.
CARMELO MENDEZ: We give them the opportunity to come to church, but if they don't feel comfortable, I believe God understands their concerns and their fears.
NAMIGADDE: At the Mass after the event, Mendez preached that all people are equally loved by God.
MENDEZ: (Through interpreter) May God Almighty, Jesus, the immigrant, Mary of the journey inspire us to recognize that we are only passing through here. No matter where you were born, no matter when you migrated, our citizenship is not here but in the presence of the lord.
HERTZLER-MCCAIN: At a different parish in one of Chicago's northern suburbs, church attendance is down by about 25%.
NAMIGADDE: The deacon there says the surge of federal agents has made many people scared to go.
UNIDENTIFIED DEACON: We have a group of people bringing the Holy Communion to those people who are in fear for any deportation or any detention.
NAMIGADDE: He's trying to fill in the spiritual gaps by ministering to people online and in their homes. Now, there's a ministry for people to pray the rosary on Zoom, and he brings food to some parishioners several days a week.
HERTZLER-MCCAIN: The church remains on high alert.
UNIDENTIFIED DEACON: Before they start the Masses, people watch outside the parking lot, the street if they see any movement or any immigration officer. And before the Mass ended, also, they do the routine walking in the street to protect our community.
HERTZLER-MCCAIN: Despite these understandable fears, some immigrants are going to Mass anyway.
NAMIGADDE: Back at the Guatemalan men's parish in Chicago, we also spoke with a woman whose adult children have been begging her to stay home.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Through interpreter) I told them they weren't going to take that away from me.
NAMIGADDE: She also asked that we withhold her name.
HERTZLER-MCCAIN: She used to attend Mass every day, but now she only goes once or twice a week.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Through interpreter) Seeking God is the most important thing for me. They know that because they say that the church is my second home.
HERTZLER-MCCAIN: This grandmother came to Chicago 38 years ago and serves her parish with care, washing linens used at Mass.
NAMIGADDE: She wants her kids to trust that God will keep their parents safe from deportation.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Through interpreter) I tell them that's not going to happen. God is with us. Go to church more, seek God that you may feel more comforted by Him.
NAMIGADDE: She survived cancer and the loss of her home. She says she can't show weakness because she'll make her kids weak.
HERTZLER-MCCAIN: But sometimes she feels the weight of it all.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Through interpreter, crying) I have my children, and I don't see myself separated from them. No. No, I don't think I could endure that. I've endured a lot that has happened to me because I say my God has given me strength. But they don't have the strength that I have, and maybe not the faith.
HERTZLER-MCCAIN: God, she says, is her strength. For her, going to church is worth the risk. For NPR News, I'm Aleja Hertzler-McCain.
NAMIGADDE: And I'm Adora Namigadde in Chicago.
SIMON: And this story was produced through a collaboration between NPR and Religion News Service.
(SOUNDBITE OF SEAN ANGUS WATSON'S "SIREN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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