CHICAGO (CNS) — Supporters of the religious rights of immigrants detained by the federal government celebrated the passage of a law requiring Illinois state and county detention facilities to allow detained immigrants to meet with pastoral workers.

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, of which the Archdiocese of Chicago and many other Catholic institutions are members, held a press conference Feb. 17 to spread the word about the law at a Methodist church across the street from Chicago, Cook County and Illinois state offices. The law grants religious workers “reasonable access” to immigrants being held in state and county facilities.

Joshua Hoyt, executive director of the coalition, recognized the efforts of Mercy Sisters JoAnn Persch and Pat Murphy, who started lobbying for the law after talking to family members of deportees outside a local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility. It was in speaking with family members that the sisters, who have attended prayer vigils at the facility since January 2007, learned the deportees relied on their faith but had little or no access to pastoral care or counseling while in federal custody.