Maine clergy form spiritual ‘shield’ outside workplaces to protect immigrants from ICE
(RNS) — For the past week or so, every morning at around 7:15, the Rev. Jane Field, a Presbyterian Church (USA) minister and executive director of the Maine Council of Churches, drives out to a business in the greater Portland area. Once there, she and several of her fellow clergy — usually around two dozen — line up along the street near the exit to the business. The goal, she said, is to form a visual and spiritual “shield” between the employees leaving their shift — the majority of whom are immigrants — and Department of Homeland Security agents who have surged into the state. The rotating band of clergy has gotten used to staring down agents during what has become a twice-daily ritual, she said, with officials often driving by or sometimes lingering in the parking lot. “ICE has been there almost every time,” Field said. It’s part of the faith-led efforts in Maine to resist “Operation Catch of the Day,” the latest in President Donald Trump’s series of mass deportation campaigns launched in …
