Many Christians are among those who have been protesting how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is handling deportations in Minneapolis, Minnesota. There were more than 600 faith leaders and clergy who went to Minneapolis on January 22. About 100 of them were arrested for “trespassing and failing to comply with an officer.”

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I suspect many Christians were involved in the nationwide protests and strikes on Friday, which turned violent in LA.

These demonstrations may have been inflamed when Don Lemon was arrested Thursday night on charges of breaking the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act. Federal authorities say Lemon conspired with protesters who entered Cities Church during its worship service on January 18, shouted profanities, and prevented parents from getting to their children or leaving the building. They wanted to confront one of the pastors, David Easterwood, who also leads the ICE field office in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Many of you have friends and/or family who are speaking or posting on behalf of illegal immigrants who are being deported. Maybe you are among them.

As I was praying with my bride, Joyce Swingle, also a contributing writer for IFA, we sensed there is no holier moment than praying God’s will over this situation.

She thought of this passage:

And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?” So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come” (Joshua 5:13-14).

People are not balanced with the whole heart of God. We’re all vulnerable on this subject. We’re talking in memes, and important nuances are lost. Pastors are afraid to risk offending people on both sides of the issue. We don’t have enough desire to find a middle ground, so we’re increasingly polarized.

As intercessors, we are uniquely positioned to get above the fray and pray into the whole situation.

It’s my prayer that this will be read and shared by people on all sides of this issue, so I’m going to share some of the nuances.

Racial Profiling

ICE’s Operation Metro Surge sent some 3,000 federal agents to Minneapolis. Mark Bruley, Police Chief in Brooklyn Park, just outside Minneapolis, reported officers are detaining people because of their skin color, and one citizen was taken out in the snow wearing only a blanket. When his grandson showed the agents the man’s ID, he was released without apology.

Lord, protect from traumatic incidents all image bearers approached by agents.

In a press conference, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “If Governor [Tim] Walz and Mayor Frey implement these commonsense cooperative measures… turn over all criminal illegal aliens currently incarcerated in their prisons and jails… that — I would add — have already been implemented in nearly every single other state across the country, Customs and Border Patrol will not be needed to support ICE on the ground in Minnesota.”

Though lower percentages were erroneously reported, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem stood by the fact that 70% of illegal immigrants are also charged with harsher crimes. During a press conference, President Trump shuffled through a large stack of papers listing the crimes of many of the illegal immigrants who were apprehended for sex trafficking, sexual assault, murder, selling drugs, committing fraud, etc.

Citizens Are Being Shot

A pastor posted, “We have seen… deaths explained away instead of grieved.”

Lord, be with the families and friends of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. May the grieving ones turn to you in this hour.

Nonetheless, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers makes clear, “Shooting a suspect with a firearm is not unconstitutional when a reasonable officer could believe that he poses a significant threat of death or serious bodily harm to the officer or others.”

Ms. Good used her vehicle as a weapon and struck ICE agent Jonathan Ross, causing internal bleeding to his torso.

The incident was less than a mile from where George Floyd was killed.

Lord, we pray You will bind the spirit of violence away from that neighborhood, the city, and America.

Officer Brandon Tatum broke down the moments leading up to Mr. Pretti being shot, and it’s clear federal agents shot him because they thought he was reaching for his loaded gun.

Xi Van Fleet, survivor of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, who said, “In Minneapolis it is communist insurrection,” observed, “Those people like Alex Pretti, I think they are ready to give their lives… for the [communist] cause.”

It should also be considered that there are 13,099 immigrants convicted of homicide living in the U.S. It is their victims who are compelling the current administration to deport them.

Lord, we also pray for the tens of thousands of families and friends whose loved ones have been taken from them by those who broke the law to be in this country.

We’re a Nation of Immigrants

Our nation is a true melting pot. Because of the Judeo-Christian values our nation was built upon, immigrants have come here from all over.

When Joyce was attending a missions night at Times Square Church in New York City many years ago, Pastor David Wilkerson read through all the nations of the earth and asked people to stand if they were from that nation. Nearly every nation was represented in that single service!

From 1892 to 1954, there were 12 million immigrants who were vetted through Ellis Island. What’s facing us today is untold millions of unvetted illegal aliens allowed across our open borders during the four years of the Biden administration.

In the past, some presidents have deported more. According to Newsweek, Barack Obama’s immigrant removals totaled more than five million during his two terms. Joe Biden sent nearly 4.8 million home in his one term. In President Donald Trump’s first term, there were 1.88 million removals, and in 2025, he added 622,000, less than Mr. Biden’s lowest year of 777,580.

What’s Different?

We have to ask why there’s such an uproar now.

The timing of the well-coordinated protests is concerning. Governor Walz was implicated in the fraud that President Trump said stole more than $19 billion from taxpayers, specifically from legitimate learning centers needing that funding. Now, four articles of impeachment are being drawn up against Governor Walz. Urging citizens to film ICE officers nine days after dropping out of the gubernatorial race certainly seems to have been a diversion.

Also, with midterms approaching, there might be a coordinated attempt to shift the balance of power in Congress.

What’s Concerning

According to the DHS, ICE agents are facing a 1,300% increase in assaults, a 3,200% increase in vehicular attacks against them, and an 8,000% increase in death threats.

Lord, we pray for de-escalation and for safety for everyone involved.

Stirring up a focus on deportations could lead to the very thing protesters say they are trying to prevent: more abuse of immigrants.

For example, the blame placed on Israel in the war in Gaza has led to the most antisemitic incidents in the 46 years the Anti-Defamation League has been tracking them.

We’ve watched the tragic rise of Nick Fuentes, a fan of Adolf Hitler.

Will this obsession with ICE raise up voices turning hearts against the image bearers who look different?

While writing this, I discovered the father of someone I know was beaten and told to die by someone who overheard the 75-year-old speaking a foreign language with his neighbors.

Lord, we pray against a rise in racism and hate crimes.

Our only hope is the kind of revival that will bridge the growing divide. Lord, bring your Church together to face facts and fulfill your prayer:

“Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are” (John 17:11).

Post your prayers for Minneapolis and our nation in the comments below.

Rich Swingle has presented in 42 nations on six continents, mostly with his own one-man plays, including I Dreamed I Was Free, about John Woolman, who spoke against slavery a century before the Civil War. Rich and his bride Joyce Swingle have 41 screen children. They have developed a “singing play” about the Welsh and Asbury Revivals. The Swingles live in New York City. www.RichDrama.com. Photo Credit: Fibonacci Blue – https://www.flickr.com/photos/44550450@N04/55069993235/, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=182779086.