Catholic nuns pray, protest outside Eloy Detention Center, Arizona’s largest ICE prison

Dozens of Catholic nuns and activists came together in prayer and in protest of the detention and treatment of immigrants outside of the Eloy Detention Center, the largest center in Arizona used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hold immigrants being processed for deportation.

On Tuesday morning, members of Corazón Arizona and the Kino Border Initiative joined the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration and the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods from Indiana in a vigil, during which they shared testimonies and prayed for individuals affected by the anti-immigrant agenda initiated by the Trump administration.

"We join the national Sisters Speak Out Prayer & Public Witness for Immigrants and a Just Economy campaign, which advocates against mass and illegal deportations, as well as the dismantling of public institutions and environmental protections," said Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Eileen McKenzie, who also works as a mobilization specialist for the Kino Border Initiative.

Among attendees was Raquel Terán, a former Arizona state senator and representative who has been providing resources and legal information to immigrant families in Arizona via the Proyecto Progreso campaign.

During the vigil, she used her time at the mic to pray for those who have been detained by ICE in recent weeks and deported.

“Let us pray for Abraham, a 43-year-old man who worked in construction for 10 years in Phoenix, Arizona, before ICE detained and deported him,” she said as she asked those present to pray for him and others.

The vigil was part of a national call for prayer and change taking place in over 20 cities, including Washington D.C. at the same time and date, Sister of Providence Tracey Horan, associate director of education and advocacy for the Kino Border Initiative, said in a statement prior to the event.

"Together, we will pray a rosary as we stand in solidarity with all those suffering in light of the actions of our current administration, as (ICE) takes extreme measures to separate families, disappear members of our community and detain our brothers and sisters in overcrowded and unsafe conditions, without adequate food, medical care or due process,” Horan said. “We hope the men and women detained at Eloy, a prison known for its inhumane conditions, will see us and feel the impact of our prayers."

The Eloy Detention Center has a capacity of 1,550 daily ICE detainees and houses both men and women. It is operated by CoreCivic, a private correctional institutions company that operates over 80 prisons and detention centers across the country.

As of January 6, 1,312 individuals were detained at Eloy, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a data-gathering organization associated with Syracuse University. At the time, the organization reported that more than 39,000 adults were detained across the country.

As of June 15, nearly five months later and well into President Donald Trump’s second term, that number grew to over 56,000 detainees.

According to TRAC, as of June 9, 1,370 people were detained at Eloy, with a guaranteed minimum of 900 daily detainees.

At the end of May, U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03) visited the detention center to conduct congressional oversight as permitted by law and as a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. What she saw, she said, “was sickening.”

“So many of the detainees shared that they do not have reliable access to basics like food and water or essential medical care when they are in crisis. Detainees described overcrowded, moldy cells, forced and dehumanizing marches outside in the Arizona heat, constant berating from guards, conditions worse than prison,” Ansari said of her visit in a statement.

Ansari had intended to meet with constituents of the Third Congressional District with whom she had corresponded with — including a small business owner who had been arrested by ICE and detained in Eloy — but was denied that visitation.

She was, however, able to speak with individuals working in the kitchen who said that they are forced to melt ice for drinkable water and that personnel are not trained to deal with medical incidents.

According to the Detention Watch Center, the Eloy Detention Center is known as one of the deadliest in the nation. From October 2022 to September 2024, the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Project, an Arizona-based non-profit that advocates for immigrant rights, filed 53 complaints to the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman.