Bishop Alberto Rojas of San Bernardino and six other California bishops celebrated Mass for about 300 detainees Dec. 10 at the Adelanto Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Processing Center outside Los Angeles.
The bishops celebrated the outdoor Mass on a basketball court inside the men’s section of the facility, NPR-affiliate KVCR reported. The outlet said that several detainees asked the bishops to bless Bibles and rosaries.
The visit was organized by the California Catholic Conference, which is the “official public policy voice of the Catholic Church in California,” according to its website.
The Desert Sun identified the attending bishops as Bishop Rojas; Bishop Oscar Cantú from the Diocese of San José; and Bishop Rey Barsabal from the Diocese of Sacramento. Also in attendance were Bishop Brian Nunes, Bishop Matt Elshoff, and Bishop Marc Trudeau from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The Diocese of San Bernardino shared images from the Mass on X, stating that Bishop Rojas told the detainees at the start of Mass: “‘You are not alone. We support you and we pray for you.’”
Following the Mass, the bishops held a press conference at Christ the Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Adelanto.
“We want those in detention to know they are not forgotten. The Church walks with them in their uncertainty,” Bishop Rojas said, according to a separate Desert Sun report.
Bishop Rojas criticized ongoing immigration enforcement operations, saying “the tactics they’re using are not humane.” Bishop Cantú said the bishops’ hope “is that every center handling people in detention treats them with dignity and allows us to minister to them,” KVCR reported.
KVCR added that the California Catholic Conference said bishops plan to visit additional detention centers in 2026 and continue seeking access to facilities in California.
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