Sister Leticia Ugboaja was arrested by federal immigration agents while walking to a church in McAllen on June 28, prompting bipartisan backlash and questions regarding the use of law enforcement resources. <\/p>\n
Sister Leticia Ugboaja, a member of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy, was detained by U.S. immigration authorities while walking to Our Lady of Sorrows Church in McAllen, Texas, on Sunday, June 28. The parish is located just kilometers from the Mexican border.<\/p>\n
Brenda Riojas, spokesperson for the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville, stated that the nun was scheduled to serve as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion that day. Ugboaja is also a registered nurse at the South Texas Health System.<\/p>\n
Following intervention from members of Congress, including Republican Representative Monica De La Cruz, the nun was released from custody on the same day she was arrested. De La Cruz confirmed she had coordinated with the Department of Homeland Security to secure the release.<\/p>\n
Representative De La Cruz criticized the detention, asserting that immigration enforcement should focus on violent criminals rather than a Catholic nun walking to church, who poses no threat to the community.<\/p>\n
The incident sparked widespread concern among U.S. officials and religious leaders. Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar raised serious questions about how immigration law enforcement resources are currently being utilized.<\/p>\n
Bishop Daniel E. Flores welcomed the nun’s release but demanded answers regarding the circumstances of her arrest. He stated that the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s policies, which allow for a nun to be handcuffed while peacefully attending church, are deeply troubling and in need of reform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sister Leticia Ugboaja was arrested by federal immigration agents while walking to a church in McAllen on June 28, prompting bipartisan backlash and questions regarding the use of law enforcement resources. Arrest Near the Border Sister Leticia Ugboaja, a member of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy, was detained by U.S. immigration authorities while […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-and-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}