ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - The Archdiocese of St. Louis filed a federal lawsuit Monday for religious liberty against officials with the Ste. Genevieve Detention Center, the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Office of Professional Responsibility.

According to a lawsuit by the Archdiocese of St. Louis, the Ste. Genevieve Detention Center is prohibiting Catholic priests from offering confession and communion, as well as prohibiting Catholic detainees from receiving confession and communion.

The lawsuit also claims that priests are not allowed to say Mass, and that clergy are given visiting limits of four hours a week. The Archdiocese claims that this limit means  the spiritual care priests can provide is severely restricted and, for some detainees, nonexistent. 

The lawsuit claims violations of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, the Missouri Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The following people are named in the lawsuit: Sheriff Gary Stolzer, Major Jason Schott, and Lieutenant Andrew Johnson by personal service at the Ste. Genevieve County Detention Center; Secretary Markwayne Mullin by service on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Acting Director David J. Venturella and Associate Director Jennifer M. Fenton by service on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Ste. Genevieve Detention Center serves as an ICE facility, which has seen scrutiny in the past year. Family members raised concerns, prompting local lawmakers to tour the jail in May 2026 to check conditions.

This lawsuit also filed a year after Leo Cruz Silva, 34, died at the Ste. Genevieve County jail. He died on Oct. 4, 2025, while in the custody of ICE.

The church states that lawyers and consular officials can visit under what they say are  much more permissive circumstances. 

The release from the Archdiocese announcing the lawsuit ends by saying,  We have faith that the judicial system will vindicate the God-given right to relig

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