The Archdiocese of St. Louis, Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski and Father Chris Schroeder sued in federal court in the Eastern District of Missouri on October 5, 2026, over a no-contact policy at the Ste. Genevieve County Detention Center, which holds ICE detainees under an agreement with the agency. The jail lets priests speak with detainees only by phone through a glass partition, during clergy hours of noon to 4 p.m. on Mondays, which rules out giving Communion or hearing confession, and priests may not celebrate Mass inside. Since mid-2025 about 3,000 ICE detainees have passed through the jail, roughly 150 at a time, and ICE pays it $103 per detainee per day, according to the complaint.
The suit names the county sheriff and jail officials along with DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, acting ICE Director David Venturella and an ICE official, and the plaintiffs also asked for a preliminary injunction. The no-contact rule is the county's, but the complaint argues ICE remains responsible for detainees and holds such jails only to its National Detention Standards, which ICE's website describes as “streamline[d]” and which were revised earlier this year.
DHS said in a statement, “These allegations are FALSE. This is a non-contact county jail, not an ICE facility.” EWTN News noted that the jail is listed as an ICE facility on ICE's website. Clergy groups in the Chicago and Minneapolis areas sued ICE earlier and won injunctions to enter ICE facilities and provide the sacraments, the St. Louis Review reported.