Detroit ICE meets with Catholic aid group, Democrat lawmaker to discuss deportations

Members of the Catholic nonprofit Strangers No Longer and others march to the Detroit ICE headquarters in July 2025. / Credit: Tom Tomala, Strangers No Longer

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 18, 2025 / 14:34 pm (CNA).

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Detroit Field Office recently met with a Catholic migrant aid group and a Democratic lawmaker to discuss questions about whether ICE is prioritizing deporting violent criminals and concerns about agents wearing masks during raids.

Acting field office director for Detroit ICE, Kevin Raycraft, and other ICE officials invited Catholics — including leaders of the nonprofit Strangers No Longer — to the Detroit headquarters on Aug. 12 after Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Michigan, intervened to secure a meeting.

Strangers No Longer first requested the meeting in July by marching from Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church to the ICE headquarters with several hundred demonstrators, many of whom were Catholic. The leaders had hoped to meet with Raycraft and deliver a letter outlining their concerns.

Congressman Thanedar told CNA the leaders “weren’t allowed to enter the ICE facility” in July and “that letter was not accepted by ICE” at the time. 

Thanedar was later able to arrange the August meeting, which included a priest, several nuns, and leaders of Strangers No Longer, who presented their letter and spoke with ICE agents for about an hour.

In its letter, the group expressed concerns about “face masks and the lack of identification” by agents during raids, along with “actions carried out without a federal warrant.” The group also alleged a lack of “communication with local law enforcement” before operations are carried out.

Strangers No Longer further criticized “the arrest of individuals who have committed no felony” and alleged that ICE “appears to be targeting men for incarceration and expedited removal, leaving women and children (many of whom are U.S. citizens) behind to ‘fend for themselves.’”

“This pattern of separating families is having a devastating impact on those left behind,” the letter added.

Victoria Kovari, one of the organizers of the July demonstration who attended the meeting, told CNA that the agents “were very respectful” and listened to “these stories … [about] how it’s impacting our community” but did not give any indication they would make any adjustments to immigration enforcement.

“We wanted this to be a dialogue,” Kovari said. “We wanted them to understand us and we want to understand them.”

Kovari said she spoke to ICE about cases in which agents arrived in unmarked vehicles wearing masks and carrying rifles to arrest people who “hadn’t committed any violent felonies.” She also spoke about parishioners who hadn’t committed any felonies “being picked up” by ICE for deportation.

“We really hope that they focus these [enforcement] priorities on the more difficult cases of gang members, drug cartel [members], drug dealers, violent offenders, and [work] with our local law enforcement,” she added.

“That’s what would really help our communities,” Kovari said.

Thanedar similarly told CNA the ICE agents “listened to us” and offered to help connect Strangers No Longer with some detainees, but that there was no indication they would make policy changes.

“Their response remained that these people — anybody that has broken the law — [ICE] will go after, and they were not willing to commit to prioritizing the hardened criminals and the people who are gang members, like the president has said,” he continued.

“What we are seeing lately is ICE is focusing more on migrants that have been working 20 years in the hospitality industry, working as cooks, doing landscaping, [and doing] work that makes our lives better,” Thanedar alleged.

Kovari added that Raycraft told the organization that many criticisms of ICE are based on “media manipulation,” which she said made the conversation more difficult.

CNA reached out to Detroit ICE, the national ICE headquarters, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for comment but did receive a response by the time of publication.

In a July 22 op-ed in the Detroit News, three weeks before the meeting, Raycraft addressed some of the concerns raised in the Strangers No Longer letter.

Raycraft said agents “identify themselves with visible markings, badges, or other identifiers” but “do not wear uniforms or drive marked vehicles.” He contested that assaults on agents have increased by about 830% and “our officers wear masks to protect their families.”

The op-ed states that agents follow the law when making arrests. He said the law allows for “the issuance of warrants upon a finding of probable cause that someone is [unlawfully] present” and works with courts to obtain warrants for other criminal matters. It adds that agents do not need to display the warrants.

Raycraft also said that ICE “routinely coordinates with local law enforcement agencies” and that they “know where to reach us … if there is an issue regarding communication.”