David Inczauskis, S.J., and Daniel Harnett, S.J., were among the faith leaders and community members who on Oct. 11 processed to the Broadview detention facility in Illinois that has been the site of daily protests and sometimes violent confrontations between Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and demonstrators. This eucharistic procession was entirely peaceful but did not end as organizers had hoped, with the opportunity to enter the facility to distribute the Eucharist among the people held inside.

After an appeal was made through Illinois States Troopers at the site, federal officials declined to allow the clergy to enter the facility to share the Eucharist with the alleged undocumented migrants held inside.

Denied entry, the group continued praying and singing “Pan de Vida” outside the detention site.

“I’m sure they heard us singing,” Father Hartnett said, speaking to the local CBS News affiliate. “I’m sure they heard us talking, so hopefully they get strength from our presence.”

The procession was organized through the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership.

In a Facebook post Father Inczauskis explained that a delegation of religious sisters and clergy attempted to bring Communion to detained migrants, who despite their status retain “the right to the free exercise of religion.”

He said the coalition had “made every effort to communicate with ICE ahead of this visit,” but “ICE turned away our peaceful delegation.”

“The crowd’s shouts of ‘let them in, let them in’ quickly turned to ‘shame, shame’ as folks realized that ICE would not let Jesus, present in the Eucharist, into the facility,” Father Inczauskis wrote. “Jesus was knocking at the federal agents’ door, and they would not let him in.”

“We witnessed another level of evil,” he added. “Not only are migrants being torn away from their families and friends, they are also being torn away from their religious communities. ICE is severing the Body of Christ.”

Demonstrators, he said, experienced a “stark reality.”

“ICE has locked up migrants in a makeshift jail in the Chicago suburbs, and not even US Senators and religious leaders can enter to observe what happens inside and to provide spiritual care to the detained.”

In another Facebook post, the Rev. Larry Dowling of the Archdiocese of Chicago described how he led a Eucharistic Procession from St. Eulalia Church in Maywood, Ill., to the ICE Detention Center in Broadview. Hundreds “marched in peaceful prayer and song, facilitated by the Maywood and Broadview Police Departments and the Illinois State Police.”

“I cannot speak more highly of these public safety officers in providing us safe passage,” he wrote, adding that “[upon] arrival, it was a different story.”

“There were no ICE or Federal representatives there. When requesting to talk with a representative from Homeland Security and ICE, the State Police reached out on our behalf to make the request over the phone.”

He wrote: “After a brief wait, the answer came back very clearly,” that the delegation could not bring compassion, prayer, solace or “the love of God into this place.”

He added: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”

Father Dowling urged prayers “especially for the children, for the mothers and fathers who are being treated inhumanely,” and he urged fellow Christians and people of good will: “Please step up and speak out. Silence is supporting this abuse of these members of God’s family.”

The procession was held on the same day that a federal appeals court ruled that Texas National Guard troops sent to Illinois by President Donald Trump could stay in the state and under federal control, but could not be deployed to protect federal property or go on patrol for now.

The decision followed a ruling by Judge April Perry of the Federal District Court for the District of Northern Illinois on Oct. 9 that blocked the National Guard deployment for at least two weeks. Judge Perry found no substantial evidence that a “danger of rebellion” is brewing in Illinois as the Trump administration expanded its immigration crackdown.

“There has been no showing that the civil power has failed,” Judge Perry said in her ruling. “The agitators who have violated the law by attacking federal authorities have been arrested. The courts are open, and the marshals are ready to see that any sentences of imprisonment are carried out. Resort to the military to execute the laws is not called for.”

The 500 Guard members from Texas and Illinois were mostly based at a U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood, southwest of Chicago. A small number were sent to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Broadview.

With reporting from The Associated Press