ICE arrest of nun in southern Texas spurs bipartisan concern

The arrest of a Catholic nun from Nigeria by federal immigration officers in southern Texas on Sunday made for an unlikely alliance on Capitol Hill as lawmakers demanded her release and raised a bipartisan question: Why aren’t border officials focused on real threats to public safety?

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Sister Leticia “Letty” Ugboaja, 56, was walking the block between her home and the Catholic Church where she attends Sunday Mass in McAllen, Texas, when she was stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The agents arrested her, taking her rosary, and brought her to a nearby detention facility.

As reports of Ugboaja’s arrest spread, demands for her release from members of southern Texas’ congressional delegation flooded social media.

“My team and I are working with DHS to gather details regarding the detainment of Sister Letty Ugboaja of Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy,” Rep. Monica De La Cruz, a Republican who is running to defend the Texas border district she won in 2022, wrote in a post on X. “I have elevated this to the highest levels and will provide additional information as it becomes available.”

Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, who represent swaths of the Texas southern border, called for Ugboaja’s release and condemned her arrest. Ugboaja was released Sunday evening. Footage aired by Telemundo showed the nun walking out of the El Valle detention facility in Raymondville into the arms of Sister Norma Pimentel, a member of the Diocese of Brownsville, which oversees Ugboaja’s religious order.

“After communicating with DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Tom Homan, I’m pleased to share that Sister Letty is on her way home,” Cuellar wrote in a post on X Sunday afternoon. “The order has been given for her to be released today instead of tomorrow, and she’ll be home tonight.”

The swift reaction from federal lawmakers to Ugboaja’s arrest mirrored a playbook that’s become all too familiar for Texas’ border delegation since President Donald Trump returned to office last year.

De La Cruz, Cuellar, Gonzalez and Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, have all intervened in other controversial ICE arrests. The arrest of an 18-year-old high school mariachi champion in McAllen following an immigration check-in with his family made waves among the lawmakers advocating for his release. De La Cruz announced she had secured the release of the teenager, Antonio Gámez-Cuéllar, in March.

Referring to Ugboaja’s arrest, De La Cruz wrote on Facebook: “As I have repeatedly said, our immigration enforcement should target violent criminals. A Catholic nun on her way to church is not a threat to our community.”