Sister Leticia Ugboaja of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy

On Sunday, June 28, officers of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Sister Leticia Ugboaja, a member of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy (DMMM) and known fondly as “Sister Letty,” while she was walking to Mass at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in McAllen, TX. Sister Letty is originally from Nigeria, where her religious community was founded and is based.

Members of Our Lady of Sorrows quickly announced Sister Letty’s arrest on social media, which in short order was brought to the attention of two members of Congress, Reps. Monica de la Cruz and Henry Cuellar (who is Catholic). Rep. Cuellar called Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullins and border czar Tom Homan (who is Catholic) for the purpose of securing Sister Letty’s release. Rep. Cuellar was first told by ICE officials that Sister could not be released until the next day because of staffing issues. Nonetheless, Sister was released Sunday evening. Rep. Cuellar said, “[Homan] said he’d take care of it. I want to thank the DHS Secretary and Homan for helping her get released.”

It has not yet been made public the reason for Sister Letty’s arrest. Rep. Cuellar has said he was given the reason, but is not at liberty to divulge that information. Even still, Cuellar said, “This is not the way they should have picked her up. If ICE had any questions, there would have been more appropriate ways to deal with her situation.”

Ya think?

Talk about poor optics! I’m trying to picture in my mind big, hulking ICE officers stopping little Sister Letty in her full white habit with her rosary hanging at her side, and placing her in HANDCUFFS! Then whisking her away in one of their vans to be detained for hours. Did they put her in a cell? I can’t help but wonder what was going through the mind of the officer in charge who instructed his or her agents to carry out this arrest. Surely, he or she knew their target was a Catholic nun. I suppose they expected she would be walking to church that morning, and what route she would be taking, which would have required Sister Letty being surveilled for at least a week prior to her being arrested. So, it seems reasonable to conclude that this was planned for some fair number of days. Again, not good optics. The idea that there were ICE agents surveilling a Catholic nun for at least a week in order to know when would be the most opportune time to arrest her, and making plans to arrest her while she was walking to church, I mean – excuse my French, but – what the bloody hell? ICE, an agency of the U.S. government that Trump said would be focusing on arresting violent criminals who are in the country illegally, is taking this amount of time and energy to arrest a Catholic nun?

Another reason this strikes me as so unusual is that the Catholic Church is usually so careful about immigration status for clergy and religious. Just last summer, we were to have a new associate pastor join us at our parish. He was from Sri Lanka. But his arrival was delayed because his entering the U.S. was held up by some paperwork. It took so long, and we needed a new associate for our rather large parish, that the bishop arranged with the same order to which the first priest belonged to assign another instead whose immigration paperwork was already in place. The first priest, after his immigration status was cleared, was assigned to another parish in our diocese. This is an example of how meticulous the Church is when bringing in clergy or religious from other countries. There are thousands of clergy and religous from around the world who are serving the Church in the U.S. So, what was it about Sister Letty’s case that hadn’t been ironed out before she came to the U.S. that caught the attention of ICE? And why did ICE, as Rep. Cuellar said above, not contact officials of the Brownsville diocese or the leadership of the DMMM to get the record straight on Sister Letty’s status before arresting a habit wearing, rosary praying nun walking to church on a Sunday morning?

Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville described Sister Letty as one who “is a well-known source of goodness and hope in our community, and I am grateful she has been released.” Bishop Flores went on, “For now, it is clear that Homeland Security enforcement protocols that make it possible for a religious sister, or anyone, to be detained and handcuffed while peacefully walking to church on a Sunday morning are wildly disturbing and need to be reformed.” Bishop Flores said that there remain many questions about the why and how of Sister Letty’s arrest and detainment. The League of United Latin American Citizens is demanding answers to those many questions. They have started a petition addressed to Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas demanding “an immediate investigation into why a Catholic nun, dressed in her religious habit and on her way to Sunday worship, was stopped and taken into custody by Border Patrol.”

This whole thing smacks of amateurs in charge of a very important mission. Again, knowing that their target was a Catholic nun, and knowing that the Church is habitually extremely meticulous about the legal status of foreign clergy and religious who are working in the U.S., and knowing that there was no way the optics of this was going to be on their side, the superiors at ICE in McAllen, TX still gave the go to arrest Sister Letty as she walked to church on a Sunday morning. Bizarre! Clueless! And, as I said, amateurish!

I’ve already said on several past posts where I stand on the status of those immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, including those who’ve caused no trouble and broken no laws after their arrival, those who have caused trouble, especially violent trouble, after their arrival, and those who came here illegally for the specific purpose of causing trouble, especially violent trouble. I cannot believe that the Church in the U.S. or her community in Nigeria sent or accepted Sister Letty to work in this country without proper documentation. Someone dropped a ball someplace. Maybe several balls. That needs to be worked out. But Sister Letty ought not have to suffer for other peoples’ errors when her only desire is to serve the people of God wherever her community sends her. God bless Sister Letty, and I hope the necessary reforms are adopted and the necessary heads roll to ensure that such a travesty never happens again.

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.