Holding rosaries, a group of parishioners from Christ the King church in south San Diego prayed outside the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building on Tuesday while one of their own appeared before an immigration judge inside. Part of the group would have ordinarily done so from the hallway outside the courtroom. But after learning that volunteers had been cited in the building by federal police on Thursday and Friday, they decided to avoid any trouble. For much of the past year, groups of volunteers have accompanied immigrants to their scheduled court hearings and check-in appointments with Immigration and Customs Enforcement inside the federal building in downtown San Diego amid the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. But last week, volunteers said something changed. Some of them waiting in the hallway outside the ICE check-in office were told by federal officers that they could not be there, said Patrick Corrigan, a volunteer with the Faithful Accompaniment in Trust and Hope, or FAITH, program, which faith organizations launched last summer. On Thursday, he was one of four volunteers cited by Federal Protective Service officers, who protect federal government facilities, for failing to comply with posted signs or the directions of security personnel. Corrigan said the scene that day looked no different than usual. He said he was one of about seven people standing in the hallway when a federal officer asked them to leave the area. Some complied, but Corrigan went to talk to the others in his group about the incident. When he returned to the same hallway, he said he was detained and cited. Corrigan said he was aware of four more citations Friday, but he hasn’t heard anything so far this week. Under federal regulations, “any person on Federal property must at all times comply with official signs of a prohibitory, regulatory, or directive nature and with the lawful direction of security personnel.” A spokesperson for FPS, a Department of Homeland Security agency, said such regulations “are not new” and have been in place since November. “Obstructing access in federal buildings is a crime,” the spokesperson said. “It is against federal law to obstruct the use, enjoyment, or access to federal property, including foyers, lobbies, and corridors. Noncompliance with lawful commands from federal law enforcement is a crime.” Corrigan and others, however, disputed there was any sort of obstruction. FAITH volunteers undergo a training program. Generally, their role is to accompany those who request it, pray with them and bear witness. Corrigan said volunteers are instructed not to stand in doorways, crowd hallways or be a fire hazard, among other things. He returned to the federal building this week. He was still able to accompany people, but he avoided staying in the hallways. A parishioner prays outside the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building in San Diego on Tuesday in support of a community member who had an immigration hearing. (Alexandra Mendoza / The San Diego Union-Tribune) The FAITH program is managed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Logan Heights and the San Diego Organizing Project, a network of faith-based organizations. Volunteers from the Detention Resistance collective also regularly accompany immigrants at the federal building. On Tuesday morning, volunteers — including Auxiliary Bishop Felipe Pulido of the Diocese of San Diego — went inside the building hoping to accompany parishioner Fidel Sánchez and his family into the courtroom for his hearing. The volunteers were told the courtroom was at capacity and stayed in the waiting room. Sánchez, who has lived in the country for 30 years and is fighting to stay in the U.S., said he was grateful for the support of those who showed up. He was detained inside the federal building following a hearing in October and released from the Otay Mesa Detention Center two months later. His cousin and volunteer, Gloria Morales-Palos, said the program aims to provide support to more people like Sánchez. “We believe what we are doing is important and crucial,” she said. Dinora Reyna-Gutierrez, executive director of the San Diego Organizing Project, said there have been conversations about what may come next. “We believe it’s still our obligation as people of faith and concerned people of San Diego to be in the presence of what is happening and bear witness and support families,” she said. “We understand that the federal government is doing everything they possibly can to keep us out, to keep clergy out, to keep people of faith out, and we’re going to just rethink the way that we are physically present,” she added. “We’re not going to completely leave or get shut down; we have to reassess and remain committed to being faithfully accompanying people.” ...read more read less