Guest Speaker: Father Hung Nguyen, a Jesuit priest and Associate Pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Barrio Logan, and The Pope Francis Center.
Father Hung spoke at the committee meeting about the work of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and the new Pope Francis Center. He noted that there have been a lot of changes in the past year especially as new immigration policies took hold. Looking back to September 2023, the church responded to migrants being dropped off on the streets of San Diego, released on asylum petitions at the border (CBP1 app). They set up shelters for the migrants, many of whom has travelled long and difficult routes. There has long existed a backup of cases in immigration courts; this has only gotten worse. Some cases being called to court are “Humanitarian Parole”, some are Temporary Protected Status (TPS), some migrants entered the border legally with a notice to appear at court. There are many cases that have been pending 20+ years.
In May 2025 ICE started showing up at the courthouse; this used to be a safe place for migrants, this all changed. In June 2025 they had priests showing up at the courthouse to accompany migrants to court. The first day the priests arrived, “ICE scattered;” it was significant. The next day ICE returned to stay. The courts used to be a safe place for migrants, no more. USCIS (U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services) became another unsafe place for migrants as of November 2025. Father Hung stated that they are there for a “presence of support. Between August and November 2025 they had witnessed about 300 people detained.
Father Hung went on to describe the role of FAITH, Faithful Accompaniment in Trust and Hope. He stated that immigration attorneys say their presence gives a sense of calm. “We want people to know that in their moment of need, we were there, God was there.” Volunteers are present across 9 courtrooms and also have gone to the ISCIS location down the street to show support. Friday the 13th they have a training set for volunteers at the SD Diocese office, 2:30-4:30pm. See website www.olgsd.org/faith
Along with St. Francis Cabrini Church (St. Francis Cabrini was the first USA saint), they organize vigils and Father Hung showed the very moving video of the 1/25/26 vigil in Barrio Logan where about 1500 persons participated. The message was “people of faith are here to speak our truth”.
The new Pope Francis Center was opened on Feb 1st, 2026. They work to provide resource navigation to migrant families, especially with mental health services and legal assistance. They have a very helpful project set up with the local American Bar Association by which lawyers come in to provide consults at the center, sorely needed these days. They also set up community workshops for families on immigrant issues, rights, etc.
Discussion:
Jane expressed thanks for the video and information shared today. She asked, what is going on broadly in San Diego, has he seen ICE observers? Father Hung responded that they collaborate with other organizations, Detention Resistance, Union del Barrio, ACLU to keep tabs on what is happening in San Diego and to coordinate efforts for migrant families. Since May 2025 they have been working alongside Detention Resistance at the courthouse, accompanying migrants and families. Union del Barrio tracks ICE, doing street patrols and alerting people. ACLU brings players together in the region and do a lot of education, such as “Know Your Rights.” At the Pope Francis Center they also work closely with other local groups such as Jewish Family Services. He said their focus is to serve their parishioners. They know that legal services are hard to find and migrants need access to good legal counsel. They are aware of a lot of legal scams going on. They have hired trusted attorneys with the American Bar Association. Diane asked about the I589 packet for asylum seekers which is overwhelmingly complex and fees for just the application cost $1,000. Father Hung stated that what you see here is going on all over the country. He stated that there is a new DHS rule whereby migrants are set up for expedited removal even before any judge sees such applications. And as for the $1,000 fee it used to be possible to petition a fee waiver, but no more. Wendy noted that persons turning 70 ½ years of age, with an IRA can take out funds to donate to charities. She asked Father Hung if they have separate donating options to direct money to certain items such as migrant application fees. He responded that currently such funding is not defined. The use of donated money is decided case by case and they are talking to other like organizations about how they use donated money. Jane noted that looking at their website she can see that one can donate money directly to the Pope Francis Center. Beryl stated that she would like to make an appointment for our committee to do a visit to their new center. Father Hung said yes, most welcome, and they have an exhibit on site with photos. He also suggested that committee members sign up for their newsletter on the website.
As for potential volunteers he stated that currently they only take volunteers for “court accompaniment”, no other specific volunteer use just now. In the future they hope to set up a “volunteer post” for volunteers, teaming up with other similar organizations, maybe using some law students soon. Julie stated that she is a league member for 6 months now, an immigrant herself and she found the video “so moving, it brought tears to my eyes”. Father Hung said he would send out a video link to the committee. Holly spoke up to praise the video as well, saying she started volunteering with Detention Resistance in December. She sees that things are shifting and immigration lawyers seem to be scrambling to keep up with the changes.
Mary Niez expressed thanks to Father Hung and asked if they have approached local colleges for volunteer legal help? He said that could be possible and added that as a Jesuit parish they naturally went to LA Loyola at the start. Diane remarked that she has been part of a protest group bringing volunteers with signs of support and care on the 3rd Thursday of each month. Father Hung noted that they are not part of the protest per se as their work is more inside the building. Diane was pleased to see that last weekend (Halftime Show at SuperBowl) Bad Bunny showed that love is more powerful than hate! Holly added that she has not done protests as well as she is going in as a court observer with Detention Resistance. She has observed that when there are a lot of protesters outside the courtroom staff appears to be more tense. Recently she noted they now have a “military judge”, Leah O’Brien. Father remarked that they seem to be restricting the numbers of observers and Holly agreed that likely this is a barrier created by some of the staff of late.
Beryl thanked Father Hung on behalf of the committee and suggested that many will be signing up for their newsletter to keep informed of their progress.
Jane as President of LWVSD stated “we would like to be a friend to your organization.”
Father Hung gave thanks for our support.
Members Update:
Jane as follow-up to the presentation suggested it might be valuable to know more of what ACLU is doing in San Diego.
Beryl stated that SANDAG (the regional public agency and governing board in the SD area, composed of 19 local government agencies, a forum for decision-making on public safety, etc.) is sharing records with ICE. Mary and Holly went further to say that there are many fearing in SD that we may get like Minnesota.
Jane brought up the well-attended LWVSD planning meeting held last week. The group voted in concurrence with the state of Washington, supporting immigration. The National LWV has stepped up support for immigrants in recent weeks. She suggested folks read up on our website to see that there is support to reduce funding for ICE and to increase oversight of ICE. Wendy noted that she has read of alternative proposals coming out to give ICE $45 billion new dollars for detention centers, some talk of using big warehouses. Wendy also noted that local government has little power over what the federal government does; this has been rebelled against in Phoenix, Arizona. Gail remarked that private for-profit companies are in charge of the detention centers and the conditions are described as very harsh. Mary noted that County Health Departments have some authority over detention centers in their area. Representative Vargas was turned away recently when he attempted to check on Otay Mesa for alleged health department violations.
Ruth commented that the 1500 who showed up for the recent vigil in Barrio Logan shows how important all of this is to the Barrio Logan community.
Mary suggested to Jane and Wendy that we might want to organize a forum to see what gubernatorial candidates think about immigration. Jane responded that she would check with the LWVCA as they oversee the state races.
Wendy suggested that committee members check out upcoming LWVSD events calendar: an affordable housing webinar 2/25/26 6PM, a modular housing webinar 3/11/26 5:30PM, and a Volunteer Fair, Preparation for mid-term election related activities at the Serra Mesa Library 3/7/26.
Meeting Notes from January 2026: approved as emailed.
Next Meeting: Thursday March 12th, 2026, 9AM on Zoom.