Nun speaks out after being detained by ICE on way to church: ‘There are many others in this same situation’
TheGrio...
Sister Leticia Ugboaja, a nun and registered nurse, described being detained on her way to Mass during a press conference.
Weeks after she was arrested by ICE in Texas while on her way to church, a nun is speaking on behalf of those who are still being held in detention centers.
“There are many others in this same situation, people who have been given some form of protection under our laws, who have followed every rule asked of them, and who still live with uncertainty,” Sister Leticia Ugboaja, who was born in Nigeria, said during a news conference on Thursday (July 23).
On June 28, Ugboaja was detained by ICE while she was heading to Mass at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in McAllen, TX. She was released that evening. During the press event, she described the moment of being arrested on what was supposed to be a routine day at church, saying she remembered feeling “cold sweat” and her “tachycardic” heart.
She continued, “For me, a nun, not to go to Mass on Sunday, not to receive communion, it was very heartbreaking for me.”
Ugboaja, who is also a registered nurse at South Texas Health System, is a member of Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy and a volunteer Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion at Our Lady of Sorrows Church, according to the Diocese of Brownsville.
Following her arrest, parish officials spread the word on social media, quickly catching the attention of South Texas government officials, who advocated for Ugboaja and helped her get released that same evening.
According to her lawyer, Carlos Garcia, Ugboaja was not given a thorough explanation for why she was arrested but was told that the U.S. would remove her to a third country, per the Associated Press.
Almost a month later, Ugboaja is speaking out, trying to call attention to the prevalent anti-immigration campaign affecting her community, which is only a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, and many others nationwide.
“Gratitude does not mean I can stay quiet about what happened to me or about what is still happening to others and at the moment what I’m still feeling,” she said.
She added, “Before anyone is being taken into custody or being taken anywhere from home, from their parishes, from their places of work, or even working on the street. Give them the chance, give them the opportunity so that they can be heard,” she said.