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New York leads Ash Wednesday prayer ‘bearing witness’ to immigration enforcement’s human impact

February 19, 2026

[Episcopal News Service] The Diocese of New York led more than 300 faith leaders and New Yorkers in an Ash Wednesday prayer procession outside Federal Plaza in Manhattan to “bear public witness” to the human impact of U.S. immigration enforcement policies. Federal immigration officials have detained thousands of immigrants at Federal Plaza since President Donald Trump started his second term in office in late January 2025. “Ash Wednesday begins the season when we are turning back to God, when we are trying to let go of our brokenness and embrace healing and holiness,” New York Bishop Matthew Heyd told Episcopal News Service in a Nov. 17 phone interview. “We think this is part of what we’re doing [on Feb. 18] to reclaim our humanity, which we do by recognizing our lives together with God and our solidarity with each other.” Long Island Bishop Lawrence C. Provenzano, Newark Bishop Carlye Hughes, Episcopal priests and laity, faith leaders from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Catholic Church and other ecumenical and interfaith partners joined the prayer procession. At the gathering, participants, many with ashes on their foreheads and carrying signs reading “ICE OUT” and “REMEMBER OUR HUMANITY,” prayed and sang hymns as they processed in front of Federal Plaza. Priests also were available to impose ashes on anyone who asked. Federal Plaza is one of three immigration court sites in Manhattan. The other sites at Ted Weiss Federal Building on Broadway and the Varick Federal are also in Manhattan. Last summer, after an immigration rights group sued over the “squalid and overcrowded” conditions of holding areas on Federal Plaza’s 10th floor, a federal judge ordered ICE to improve conditions. During a Feb. 9 hearing over the lawsuit, federal attorneys admitted in court that ICE officers have been detaining immigrants on other floors and not abiding by judge’s orders. “We in the community of faith should never underestimate how important it is that we continue to faithfully advocate for minorities, for those on the margins and for those who are oppressed by the current administration,” the Rev. Caroline Stacey, rector of St. Luke in the Fields Episcopal Church in New York’s West Village, told ENS. “No more than ever, we should never underestimate how important it is that we stand fast for what we believe, and that we remember that we really are all in this together and that justice is a communal enterprise.” As of Jan. 8, 68,990 migrants and asylum-seekers are in ICE custody, according to the latest ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol data compiled by NBC News. Three known Episcopalians have been detained at Federal Plaza in the last year, including Yeonsoo “Soo” Go, a visa holder from South Korea, Elizabeth “Ketty” De Los Santos, an asylum-seeker from Peru, and an unnamed parishioner of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Manhattan. Go has since been released and has reunited with her mother, the Rev. Kyrie Kim, an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of New York. Asylum-seekers, like De Los Santos and the unnamed Episcopalian, and refugees leave their homes for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to war, violence and persecution over race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. Seeking asylum in the United States is legal. Although the terms migrants and asylum-seekers are often used interchangeably, not all migrants are asylum-seekers. The latter are people seeking protection from persecution or violence, but who haven’t yet been legally recognized as refugees. Even though asylum-seekers, refugees, green card holders and other people with valid visas are in the United States legally, many have been arrested – often violently – and detained during routine immigration check-ins at places like Federal Plaza. Small children have also been arrested and sent to detention centers. “The dignity of our people is at stake – not just who’s been detained, but also how they’ve been detained,” Heyd said. The Diocese of Central New York, in collaboration with the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, held similar Ash Wednesday prayer events at federal buildings in Mattydale and downtown Syracuse. Both events included imposing Ashes to Go and prayers. Central New York Bishop DeDe Duncan-Probe told The Post-Standard newspaper, which serves the Syracuse metropolitan area, in a Feb. 16 story that she had also invited ICE leaders to join the prayer services. “It’s really about a human invitation to our life together, that we’re honoring the dignity of other human beings, and as people who have taken vows to do this, it’s part of our life of faith,” she said. Heyd said it felt like “the natural thing to do” to host the prayer procession at Federal Plaza on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent – a time of penitence and reflection. “Ash Wednesday starts the season of repentance and reclaiming who we are,” Heyd said. “That’s our hope for [Ash Wednesday] and always, to be good allies for our siblings and to bear witness.” -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.