Sister Leticia Ugboaja, a 56‑year‑old Nigerian‑born nun and registered nurse in South Texas, was stopped and detained by two armed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on 28 June as she walked the short distance from her home to Our Lady of Sorrows Church in McAllen to distribute Holy Communion.
Describing the encounter, Ugboaja said: 'Even when I told them, "Can I go to Mass; can I just attend Mass; can I receive communion," the answer was "No",' adding that she 'did not do anything else when I have two men armed'.
ICE released Ugboaja hours later the same day, but she now faces a check‑in appointment with immigration officials on 28 July that could result in renewed detention or an ankle monitor.
Her case has drawn bipartisan criticism in a border region that backed President Trump in 2024, raising questions about how far immigration enforcement should extend into religious life.
Stopped Outside Her Church
Ugboaja, a member of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy congregation and a registered nurse at South Texas Health System for roughly a decade, lives about a block from the church and was walking there when federal agents intercepted her.
Officers confiscated her rosary and handcuffed her before transferring her to an ICE facility in Raymondville, roughly an hour's drive away, where she was also reportedly denied medication she needed.
She was freed after South Texas lawmakers, Republican Monica De La Cruz and Democrats Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, intervened with the Department of Homeland Security.
Texas Nun detained by ICE speaks out:
— Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) July 23, 2026
"For me, a nun, not to go to mass on Sunday, not to receive communion, it was very, very heartbreaking for me. I was told, even when I told him, 'can I go to mass? Can I just attend mass? Can I receive communion?' And the answer was no. I… pic.twitter.com/AaNGWaW3AP
Bipartisan Backlash to Nun's Detention
The detention prompted criticism across party lines. De La Cruz said 'a Catholic nun on her way to church is not a threat to our community', while Bishop Daniel E. Flores of the Diocese of Brownsville called the enforcement protocols 'wildly disturbing and need to be reformed'.
The League of United Latin American Citizens went further, stating that 'her release does not erase the fact that she should have never been detained in the first place'.
The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to multiple requests for comment on her immigration status.
Legal Tangle Behind Sister Leticia's Case
Ugboaja's case carries legal weight beyond the image of a nun in handcuffs.
In 2019, a judge denied her asylum request but simultaneously granted her protection from removal to Nigeria under the United Nations Convention Against Torture, finding it was more likely than not she would face torture if returned there.
Because her asylum claim was formally denied, she remains under a final removal order despite holding a valid work permit and complying with every condition imposed on her since 2019, according to her attorney, Carlos M Garcia.
Garcia said that when officials detained her last month, they sought to deport her not to Nigeria but to a third country, a practice increasingly used under the Trump administration to sidestep countries where deportees would face persecution.
Her Attorney Fights to Prevent Further Detention
Garcia said his legal team is asking that Ugboaja 'not be detained and that no ankle monitor be placed on a person who has broken no rule, posed no danger, and given this country a decade of nursing and a lifetime of ministry' ahead of her 28 July check‑in.
Ugboaja has said she chose to speak publicly so others facing similar treatment might be heard before enforcement action is taken against them, noting there are 'many others in the same situation'.
Whether her upcoming appointment results in further detention, monitoring or resolution remains unknown, but her case has already become a test of how immigration enforcement can reach into the lives of those who have devoted themselves to serving American communities.
