Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of the Archdiocese of Newark, and president of Seton Hall’s Board of Regents, denounced U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during an online prayer service hosted by Faith in Action on Sunday.
Tobin urged Catholics to call out injustice, calling the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown “lawless.”
“How will you say no to violence?” Tobin said. “Because, as the great teacher Martin Luther King [Jr.] said, hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.”
The service took place one day after the fatal shooting of U.S. citizen and ICU nurse, Alex Pretti, by two federal Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis.
In a post to X, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said agents had been carrying out a “targeted” immigrant enforcement operation when Pretti approached them with a “9 mm semi-automatic handgun.”
The DHS said Pretti violently resisted agents’ attempts to disarm him, and agents fired in self-defense.
Videos circulating online appear to contradict those statements. The New York Times analyzed video evidence and reported that Pretti had been holding his cellphone, filming agents as they “shoved” two civilians toward an S.U.V. Pretti attempted to help the civilians, positioning his body between them and the Border Patrol agents.
The New York Times also reported that Pretti had been carrying a gun “holstered on his right hip,” but did not reach for it and had a firearms permit. The Washington Post confirmed that Pretti had been disarmed by an officer before the first gunshot by Border Patrol.
Pretti was the second U.S. citizen to be killed by federal forces in Minneapolis as part of a larger immigration operation launched by the Trump administration on Jan. 6, when 2,000 federal agents and officers were deployed to the area. A total of 3,000 ICE and Customs and Border Patrol agents are now operating within the city, according to CBS News.
Renee Nicole Good was killed on Jan. 7 when an ICE agent, Jonathan Ross, shot into her vehicle three times. DHS said Good attempted to run over officers, with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem claiming Ross was struck by the vehicle, according to ABC News.
Good had stopped with her wife, Becca Good, to join protestors as ICE agents “flooded the city,” People reported.
“We stopped to support our neighbors,” Becca Good said in a statement posted to Instagram. “We had whistles. They had guns.”
The detention of a child, 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, has also been at the heart of the protests in Minneapolis. Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, were arrested in the driveway of their home in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights on Jan. 20.
Officials of Conejo Ramos’ school district, Columbia Heights Public School District, and the DHS have provided differing accounts of the incident. According to The New York Times, the school district “accused the federal government of using the boy as bait at his home to lure other family members out of the house.”
In a statement posted to X, the DHS said Conejo Arias had fled from agents, leaving the child behind.
“ICE did NOT target a child. The child was ABANDONED,” the post read. “For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias.”
According to their lawyer, Marc Prokosch, Conejo Ramos and his father entered the U.S. legally.
“They were following all the established protocols, pursuing their claim for asylum, showing up for their court hearings, and posed no safety, no flight risk and never should have been detained,” Prokosch said in an article published by CNN.
Conejo Ramos and his father are currently being held in the South Texas Family Residential Center, an ICE detention facility for families. A federal judge ruled on Monday that they cannot be imminently deported.
Tobin seemed to reference the deaths of Pretti and Good, as well as the detainment of Conejo Ramos, in his statement on Sunday.
“We mourn for a world, a country, that allows 5-year-olds to be legally kidnapped. And protestors to be slaughtered,” Tobin said.
The House of Representatives passed an appropriations bill including funds for the departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security on Jan. 22, ahead of the shutdown deadline on Jan. 30.
According to NBC News, “the package would keep ICE funding essentially flat at $10 billion for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.” The agency also received $75 billion for detention and enforcement from the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill.
The package will come before the Senate next week.
Tobin urged citizens to tell their senators to “vote against renewing funding for such a lawless organization.”
Tobin’s calls come on the heels of immigration rights debates in New Jersey. On his last day in office, former governor Phil Murphy vetoed two bills aimed at expanding the rights of immigrants in the state.
According to The New York Times, Murphy said the bills would “unintentionally undermine protections for New Jersey’s immigrant communities.”
Politico reported that Murphy said vetoed bill NJ A6310 (24r) could undermine the state’s standing in court, as it contains provisions “removing an exception that allowed state authorities to notify federal authorities of an inmate’s release if they’re subject to a final order of deportation signed by a federal judge, and new restrictions on state and local law enforcement funding used to assist federal immigration enforcement.”
State Sen. Britnee Timberlake of Essex County told Politico that she would reintroduce the bills to recently inaugurated Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
Despite the two vetoes, Murphy signed a bill into law that will require the state “to write ‘model policies’ to protect the rights of New Jersey residents at sensitive locations, including schools, courthouses, shelters, jails and health care facilities.”
New Jersey is home to the second-largest immigrant percentage of any state after California.
Learn about your rights in New Jersey if you encounter an immigration officer.
If you or someone you know is struggling, Seton Hall’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) is available to provide support. CAPS is located in Mooney Hall, Room 27 and can be contacted by phone at 973-761-9500.
Megan Pitt is the head editor of The Setonian’s News section. She can be reached at megan.pitt@student.shu.edu.
