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Utah bishops oppose massive federal immigrant detention facility in their state

June 16, 2026

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal bishop in Utah has joined with her counterpart in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in opposing plans to build a massive immigrant detention facility in their state. Bishop Phyllis Spiegel of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah and the Rev. Meghan Johnston Aelabouni, bishop of the ELCA’s Rocky Mountain Synod, wrote an opinion article for the Salt Lake Tribute voicing their opposition to the federal conversion of an 833,000-square-foot Salt Lake City warehouse into a detention facility. In the piece, they invoke their Christian faith and community values, saying they are “called to love our neighbors and to welcome the stranger among us.” “A detention center of this scale risks defining Utah’s role in immigration policy through confinement rather than constructive solutions,” the bishops said. “As faith communities, we believe public policy should never lose sight of the people whose lives it affects. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus teaches, ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me.’” The Trump administration has said it plans to spend millions of dollars expanding the federal system of detention facilities to house immigrants picked up in immigration enforcement raids to fulfill President Donald Trump’s demand for mass arrests and deportations. Those efforts, however, have run into local resistance in places like Utah. Episcopal leaders in other states and communities also have stepped up their opposition to detention facilities, citing their promise in the Baptismal Covenant to “respect the dignity of every human being.” In Newark, New Jersey, for example, Episcopal priests have rallied outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center there amid reports of mistreatment of the facility’s detainees. Newark Bishop Carlye Hughes and New York Bishop Matthew Heyd issued a joint statement calling for closure of Delaney Hall. “Delaney Hall is a symptom of dehumanization, a large and long-term chronic ailment of brutal times in our history,” Hughes and Heyd said. “We call for Delaney Hall to close and for those held there to be released as its main purpose is to enforce the dehumanization of them.” Other places where Episcopalians are opposing new detention facilities or the expansion of existing facilities have included the dioceses of Oklahoma, the Rio Grande and Virginia. In Utah, in addition to public opposition from faith leaders like the Episcopal and ELCA bishops, the federal government is facing a legal battle with those seeking to block the new detention facility in the state. Salt Lake City and County filed a complaint in federal court opposing the project last week. That legal fight has drawn support from a local advocacy group called Uproar Utah, as well as faith-based groups. “We cannot allow fear-based narratives to justify the suffering of families who have done everything right,” Liliana Bolaños, a program manager for Mormon Women for Ethical Government, said at a news conference last week according to the Salt Lake Tribune. “And we cannot look away from the human cost: the children left behind, the communities destabilized, the trauma that lingers long after detention ends.” – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.