March CCS Friday – Standing Up to ICE
On Friday, March 20, 2026 we hosted an online conversation with Patrick Shebeck, Lutheran pastor from St. Paul, MN, about the response of people of faith to the violence enacted by agents of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the leadership of clergy in this winter’s ICE protests in Minneapolis.
Unlike some other CCS Friday discussions, this one wasn’t recorded (out of concern for the security of people who might be discussed). But here are some quotes…
“Things in Minneapolis are not as bad as they were several weeks ago, but they’re still bad. I have never in my life experienced a level of anxiety, in either my city or my country, in a way that we are experiencing it now.”
“The good news is that Minnesotans are tough. I think a lot of the ICE agents that came here are from other parts of the country, and they didn’t realize that a lot of people here were descended from Vikings who came across the ocean into icy places. A couple below zero temperature days is not gonna really stop Minnesotans, right?”
“God doesn’t care whether you’re here legally or not, right? That doesn’t establish your dignity as a human person or the reflection of the God who made you.”
“People call us a progressive congregation. I don’t think we’re that progressive. I just think we’re Christian.”
“How do we stay resilient? We draw strength from God first. And we can draw strength from each other.”
“We need to be really grounded in our prayer and spirituality. I think part of that is an honesty with God. Like, ‘I don’t know what the next step is; teach me.’ Like, ‘Come, Holy Spirit. I don’t know what to do; I don’t know how to navigate all the matters of privilege and wealth and history and culture and all of those things. And I will make mistakes. God, still show me something to do, some way to be faithful.'”
“Last summer, we convened a very large group of clergy here in St. Paul, and they came up with this idea to do this Palm Sunday action. On Palm Sunday people of faith are marching to the state capitol. It started out as something that was going to be just in the Twin Cities. And it has now spread, such that there are going to be protests all over the United States, I’m told. …Make it known in your communities, even if it’s just your parish on Palm Sunday: There are many Christians of good will who this afternoon will be protesting in solidarity with oppressed neighbours and against this horrible administration as a faithful response to Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. And maybe we’re not in the same country, but the theological truth remains true, which is that Jesus confronts the powers of empire during Holy Week and the Passion. And it doesn’t matter where you are, that’s a good thing to do. …How do we really enter into this story of Holy Week? In a way that is going to be in solidarity, particularly with the most vulnerable to your south. And not only that, the vulnerable in your own communities. And, you know, if you have, like, three people, and they want to march around the church? Okay, great! That’s three more people than there were before.”
“There’s not a hierarchy of activism. We as Christian people need people whose vocation it is to pray for us, to give us the strength that we need. I love, love, love that you all want to do something. Great. You can start by saying some prayers. Like, take it seriously. We believe that prayers are a way that God works in the world. If there are people who are called to that work, as opposed to, like, being arrested by whoever, great, that’s a vocation of the Christian faith as well.”
“You can’t win against Jesus. He’s gonna win in the end. And I need you to hold on to that. That is the Easter message. We know how this story ends. It ends in resurrection, and it ends in the dignity of life.”
