On February 18, Ash Wednesday, around 300 people joined a prayerful procession organized by the Diocese of New York. They walked around 26 Federal Plaza, a sprawling government building in downtown Manhattan where those seeking refuge in the United States can file asylum claims.
In the past year, asylum seekers and other migrants have been taken away from its hallways by ICE agents.
The procession included Episcopalians from the dioceses of New York and Long Island and members of other faith communities who wish to bear witness and call attention to the government’s actions and policies toward immigrants.
They sang songs and paused to pray and reflect as they circled the building.
“The folks who have come here are describing the community we can be together,” Bishop Matthew Heyd of New York told The Living Church. “And also being clear about what should stop, which is the chaos and cruelty in all of our neighborhoods.”
In August 2025, the daughter of the Rev. Kyrie Kim, a priest of the Diocese of New York, was detained immediately after a visa interview. She was released from the same building where the prayer service was held.
Days before the gathering, documents revealed that ICE would spend $38 billion to purchase warehouses across the country and retrofit them into new detention centers. A record 73,000 people were being held in detention as of mid-January, three-quarters of whom had no criminal records.
Heyd led the procession. In lockstep with him was seminarian Nick Gordon, who is in his second year at Yale Divinity School and was part of the team that organized the prayer service a month ago.
“The fact that everyone wanted to come out and do an Ash Wednesday action together … is a really powerful symbol,” Gordon told TLC.
According to the Rev. Canon Alissa Newton, the New York diocese’s canon to the ordinary, the initial idea was simply to bring together Episcopalians, but organizers then invited other Christian groups and interfaith partners.
“It’s especially important for Christians to make a stand against Christian nationalism and xenophobia, and all of the things that are fueling the hate that is represented most clearly in the actions of ICE right now,” Newton told TLC. She was encouraged by the turnout and said there is “a deep need to come out and show with our bodies and with our voices that there’s a different way to be Christian, and that you can be Christian and loving.”
The group occupied a fifth of a mile in front of the government building’s entrance on Broadway. Church leaders, including Bishop Lawrence Provenzano of Long Island, Bishop Suffragan Allen Shin of New York, and Dean Winnie Varghese of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, joined Heyd. Leaders from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Catholic Charities of New York also participated.
The Rev. Chloe Breyer, executive director of the Interfaith Center of New York, who serves in an Episcopal parish in Harlem, was one of the clergy members who joined a protest in Minnesota after two U.S. citizens were killed while protesting ICE raids. She also joined the February 18 prayer service and procession organized by the New York diocese.
Breyer said it was “the acknowledgment of our shared humanity [that] takes us to the foot of a building where humanity is not recognized.”
Signs reading Remember Jesus was a refugee, too and History Has Its Eyes on You, ICE were held by those who walked. New York diocesan staff handed out 18-by-24-inch cardboard signs with the words ICE Out and Remember Our Humanity in oversized purple letters printed on a marble-white background.
Joe Chavez Carey and his 14-year-old son, John, carried such signs. They worship at Christ Church in Warwick, New York, about 90 minutes from Manhattan, but attended an Ash Wednesday service at Trinity Church. Carey said he is encouraged by how the Episcopal Church is responding to the plight of immigrants in the country.
“They’re witnessing humanity … peace, love, kindness, care,” he said. “They’re witnessing God’s love in the world … [and] care of God’s children.” Since it was his day off and his son was on midwinter break, he thought joining the public prayer service was a good idea. “I’m glad we came.”
The younger Carey said, “It was a great experience being around these people. It opened my eyes to the bigger world around us.”
Circling 26 Federal Plaza, or the Jacob Javits Federal Building, from its Broadway entrance—the only entry available to the public—took about 4,000 steps. The group first walked south to Reade Street, passing the African Burial Ground National Monument, then marched east to Federal Plaza, passing the federal courthouse along the way.
Along Federal Plaza, Heyd called for prayer for those who are detained and asked participants to call out their names. The group sang songs from justice movements, including “We Get There Together” by Jewish community organizer Joshua H. Blaine.
Chelsea MacMillan sang the lyrics—“No one is getting left behind this time, no one is getting left behind”—over a megaphone, encouraging others to join in. MacMillan is an Episcopalian from the Diocese of Long Island and an ordained interfaith minister with OneSpirit Learning Alliance.
The Spanish song “No Están Solos,” which translates to “You all are not alone” and is a song of solidarity for migrant detainees, was also sung.
MacMillan said she can’t think of a better way to spend Ash Wednesday than to be in a place that is “basically the hot spot of detention and family separation here in New York City.”
In a recent court appearance, federal attorneys said that multiple floors of the Jacob Javits Building are being used to hold detainees.
Caleb Maglaya Galaraga is The Living Church’s Episcopal Church reporter. His work has also appeared in Christianity Today, Broadview Magazine, and Presbyterian Outlook, among other publications.
