A law firm representing religious groups is suing the Trump administration over claims that federal agencies are blocking faith leaders from ministering to immigrants detained in Minnesota.

The suit, filed by Saul Ewing and Groundwork Legal, asserts that ICE has violated the First Amendment and Religious Freedom Restoration Act by barring ministers from providing spiritual care to individuals detained at Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling. That facility has housed many of the thousands of immigrants arrested since the surge of federal agents to Minnesota.

Filed in U.S. District Court for Minnesota, the firms name as plaintiffs the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Minnesota Conference of the United Church of Christ and the Rev. Christopher Collins, a Jesuit priest. The groups are seeking to allow all faith leaders to enter the building and provide pastoral care to detainees.

The lawsuit is the latest attempt by local attorneys to fight for access into the Whipple Building through court intervention. Late January, immigration rights attorneys sued the Trump administration on accusations that federal agencies were blocking lawyers from accessing their clients inside Whipple. After a judge’s order, the attorneys toured the facility and described crowded and dirty conditions. The federal judge, Nancy Brasel, recently extended her orders protecting the access through March 12.

The complaint describes several instances of federal agents blocking clergy from entering the building or turning them away since early December, the start of Operation Metro Surge. In one example, a reverend went to the Whipple Building on Feb. 18 to bear ashes for Ash Wednesday, a holy day in the Christian faith, but was denied over “safety” and “security” reasons.

The Minnesota Star Tribune has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.

Irina Vaynerman, CEO of Groundwork Legal, said attorneys saw success in a similar case brought in Illinois, when a federal judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security to allow clergy to provide Ash Wednesday services to detainees.

Outside Whipple late last week, U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Angie Craig said fewer than 500 ICE agents remain in Minnesota. The significant drop in force comes after Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s border czar, announced an end to the immigration crackdown with the drawing down of agents.

Vaynerman said the suit remains important despite the drawdown.

“The constitutional rights of these faith leaders pre-dates Operation Metro Surge and it will, post Operation Metro Surge,” she said. “The need for pastoral care is not gone, it is ever-present for folks who are suffering in detention.”

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