A team of AP religion reporters produced an intimate portrait of a Catholic congregation that is both fearful and resilient in the face of an immigration crackdown.
After earning the trust of clergy and parishioners at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart — a mostly Salvadoran church in Washington, D.C. — reporters Tiffany Stanley, Luis Andres Henao and video journalist Jessie Wardarski learned about more than 40 parishioners who had been detained or deported, and secured access to speak with their family members.
Henao and Wardarski gained rare access to the home of a woman whose husband had been detained by ICE officers in September and who had not returned to the church since. Stanley secured an exclusive interview with Cardinal Robert McElroy, the top leader of the Washington Archdiocese. He told AP the government was using fear to rob immigrants “of any sense of real peace or security.”
The team’s reporting revealed the ongoing toll of immigration enforcement on local congregations, blending sensitive storytelling with strong access and visuals.
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