Honduran Pastor Detained by ICE Ministers to Fellow Detainees in Massachusetts Jail
José Raúl Hernández, a Honduran pastor at Resurrection Church in East Boston, was detained by ICE in November 2025 after a routine check-in. During his 15 days at Plymouth County Correctional Facility, he preached to other detainees. He was released on bond after his church raised over $56,000 and gathered 200 letters of support.
José Raúl Hernández had been following every rule. The Honduran pastor at Resurrection Church in East Boston reported for a routine ICE check-in in November 2025, as he had done for years. He wore an ankle monitor. He submitted address updates. Then agents detained him.
Hernández spent 15 days at Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts. During that time, he did not stop being a pastor. He preached to other detainees and provided pastoral care to men who had no one else to turn to.
His church, led by Pastor Kaitlin Ho Givens, moved quickly. Members launched a GoFundMe campaign that raised more than $56,000. More than 200 religious leaders and academics wrote letters of support. His legal team filed a habeas corpus petition that kept him from being transferred to Louisiana.
Hernández was eventually released on bond. His asylum case continues.
His story is not isolated. Hispanic Pentecostal leaders reported in 2026 that at least 19 pastors and nearly 200 church members within their networks had been detained or deported. In August 2026, Luis Morales, a pastor who leads four Adventist churches in the Houston area, was detained at George Bush Intercontinental Airport while traveling with his wife. ICE said his Temporary Protected Status had been revoked in November 2025.
In New Jersey, Pastor Yeison Cortes Vasquez was detained in Newark in March 2026. Members of Congress held vigils outside the detention center.
Faith leaders say the pattern is clear: pastors who were complying with immigration requirements are being swept up in enforcement operations. Many had no criminal records and had been in regular contact with immigration authorities for years.
Christianity Today reported on the Hernández case in September 2026, noting that his congregation described his detention as a test of their faith and their commitment to one another. "I was in prison and you visited me," one church member quoted from Matthew 25, describing how the community responded.
