NEW via @fiona-ndre.bsky.social, @fiona-murphy.bsky.social and @alejacorazonhm.bsky.social: Cardinal Tobin celebrates Ash Wednesday Mass for detainees in Newark ICE facility (note: this is NJ, not in IL, where there are disputes about allowing this to happen) —> religionnews.com/2026/02/18/c...
Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark went inside an ICE detention facility to celebrate Ash Wednesday Masses with detainees this morning.
We caught him as he was leaving the facility and asked why he chose to celebrate the holy day with ICE detainees.
Read our RNS story for more info:
Full story on this from @fiona-ndre.bsky.social:
“…Aliya Latif, the newly appointed executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Faith-Based Partnerships, said NY clergy ought to mobilize as forcefully as clergy who have protested ICE operations across the country.” religionnews.com/2026/02/06/a...
DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the government would appeal the decision.
“Supreme Court, here we come,” she wrote “Temporary means temporary and the final word will not be from an activist judge legislating from the bench.”
In a last-minute hearing, a U.S. district Judge halted the Department of Homeland Security’s attempt to strip 350,000 Haitians of their temporary protected status. The status was set to expire on Tuesday.
Read the full story on RNS:
Via @fiona-ndre.bsky.social and @ulaakuzi.bsky.social: In Minneapolis, clergy mobilize to manage expected ICE raids targeting Somali immigrants —> religionnews.com/2025/12/04/i...
On Thursday, an IJ denied Marouf’s request for a voluntary departure order, which would have allowed him to return to the country more easily.
His donations, before HLF was designated a terrorist group, were considered material support for terrorism by immigration services.
religionnews.com/2025/10/03/c...
Marouf was arrested after his green card was denied over past donations to the Holy Land Foundation, a defunct Muslim charity accused of having ties to Hamas and closed in 2001.
“It came out of nowhere. … After the initial shock, my first thought was in regards to my youngest brother … ,” his 27-year-old son Mohammed said.
religionnews.com/2025/09/25/m...
Two months ago, Marwan Marouf, a Dallas Muslim community leader was arrested by ICE on his way to work.
On Friday, an immigration judge ruled to deport him to Jordan. Marouf has spent 30 years in the U.S.
Thioub is the first NY clergy member placed in ICE detention. Members of the interfaith center of New York visited him at the Delaney Hall detention facility.
Thioub, who is from Senegal, said he signed a voluntary departure agreement under circumstances he described as “coercive and unclear.”
Ever since Imam El Hadji Thioub has been placed in ICE detention, members of his mosque in the Bronx said Friday prayers feel different.
“If we (are) missing the big leader you can feel it in the mosque,” said Imam Omar Niass (in yellow) who co-leads the mosque.
Listen to RNS reporters @fiona-ndre.bsky.social and @ulaakuzi.bsky.social on "Complexified" this week, where they unpack how Zohran Mamdani built a multifaith, multiethnic coalition that stretched from mosques to churches to fried chicken shops across Queens.
religionnews.com/2025/11/10/b...
“What happens when a Muslim mayor-elect treats identity as a bridge, not a brand?” is the question we wrestled with on Complexified this week! Listen here:
Our fresh news roundup features insights from @jackjenkins.me, @fiona-ndre.bsky.social, @alejacorazonhm.bsky.social, @angeladenker.bsky.social, @davidgilbert.bsky.social, @kateshellnutt.bsky.social, @kenschneck.bsky.social, @wsuares.bsky.social, @lrj417.bsky.social, @sarahposner.bsky.social, & more!
“Federal authorities told demonstrators Friday that there would be ‘no more prayer’ in front of or inside the Broadview ICE facility, in a move that mystified local leaders and raised legal questions.” blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/07/f...
“We will fight for you because we are you, or as we say on Steinway, ‘Ana Minkum wa Ilaykum,’” said Mamdani, referring to the busy Astoria commercial street and citing an Arabic adage meaning “I am from you and return to you.”
Read more here:
religionnews.com/2025/11/05/a...
“He was so brave to openly declare that he’s a Muslim trying to be the mayor of the city,” said Shamsi Ali, imam at Jamaica Muslim Center in Queens, NY. “It is truly uplifting us.”
Mamdani would be New York's first Muslim mayor. His support transcends religious identity. religionnews.com/2025/11/03/m...
Truly brilliant @rns.org team reporting here from @ulaakuzi.bsky.social, @fiona-ndre.bsky.social and @richakarma.bsky.social:
Inside Zohran Mamdani's bid to win over religious New Yorkers —> religionnews.com/2025/11/04/i...
“My friends, we have toppled a political dynasty,” said Mamdani in his victory speech. “Thanks to all of those who sacrificed so much, we are breathing in the air of a city that has been reborn.”
Reporting live from Zohran Mamdani’s election night in Brooklyn 🗽
The 34-year-old democratic socialist just won New York City’s mayoral election, becoming the city’s first Muslim mayor.
AjiFanta Marenah (right), the vice president of New York’s Muslim Democratic club, told me Mamdani’s victory is a “historic” moment for Muslim New Yorkers.
Campaign supporters are celebrating at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater
