Bishop Micheal Pham, center, leads an inter-faith group as they enter a federal building to be present during immigration hearings, Friday, June 20, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Bishop Michael Pham, center, speaks with Pastor Scott Santa Rosa, right, as an inter-faith group gets ready to enter a federal building to be present during immigration hearings Friday, June 20, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Bishop Michael Pham, center, leads an inter-faith group as they stand in the lobby of a federal building to be present during immigration hearings, Friday, June 20, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A woman prays during Mass before a group of interfaith leaders, led by Bishop Michael Pham, enter a federal building to be present during immigration hearings, Friday, June 20, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Bishop Michael Pham leads Mass before heading an interfaith group to a federal building to be present during immigration hearings, Friday, June 20, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Bishop Micheal Pham, center, leads an inter-faith group as they enter a federal building to be present during immigration hearings, Friday, June 20, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
GB
Bishop Michael Pham, center, speaks with Pastor Scott Santa Rosa, right, as an inter-faith group gets ready to enter a federal building to be present during immigration hearings Friday, June 20, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
GB
Bishop Michael Pham, center, leads an inter-faith group as they stand in the lobby of a federal building to be present during immigration hearings, Friday, June 20, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
GB
A woman prays during Mass before a group of interfaith leaders, led by Bishop Michael Pham, enter a federal building to be present during immigration hearings, Friday, June 20, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
GB
Bishop Michael Pham leads Mass before heading an interfaith group to a federal building to be present during immigration hearings, Friday, June 20, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
SAN DIEGO (AP) — About a dozen religious leaders from the San Diego area visited federal immigration court Friday to serve as witnesses to “what goes down†as some cases arising from the Trump administration’s migration crackdown are heard, an organizer said.
Some migrants have been arrested at the court by federal immigration officers. The Rev. Scott Santarosa, a Jesuit priest who was lead organizer of the group, said the purpose of the visitation “is more than anything just to provide some sense of presence.â€
“People are longing for people of faith to walk with vulnerable migrants,†added Santarosa, the pastor of San Diego’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. “Our goal is not trying to prevent arrests — but we can witness it.â€
The visit was preceded by a Mass at San Diego’s Catholic Cathedral with bishops and other clergy — including , the top-ranking official in the group and one of the first bishops to be appointed by Pope Leo XIV after his election as pontiff — offering prayers for refugees and migrants on World Refugee Day. Pham himself is a refugee; he came to the United States unaccompanied as a boy from Vietnam.
The idea for the court visit started during a diocese-wide call to plan events for World Refugee Day, in addition to each church holding a Mass to pray for migrants and refugees, Santarosa said.
The priest said he hopes that visiting the court helps migrant communities — both more recent arrivals and those without legal status to be in the country who have lived in the San Diego area for decades.
“They’re feeling like people just want them to disappear,†Santarosa said, adding that a woman told him, in Spanish: “Father, we feel as if we were hunted, as if we were animals.â€
___
AP journalist Giovanna Dell’Orto contributed from Minneapolis.
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
