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Rev. Jason Cook, pastor of Tapestry, a Unitarian Universalist congregation, wore a traditional white collar and colorful stealing in stained glass when he arrived at Santa Ana’s Immigration Court last Friday.
For weeks, cooks and clergy members of religion cross sections appeared in courts in Orange County, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego to stand with immigrants during deportation hearings. The practice began after faith leaders learned that many migrants seeking asylum were kicked out by federal agents and trapped in remote detention facilities without the opportunity to say goodbye to their families after being billed asylum appearances.
They tried to use their presence to lend them to lawsuits to comfort immigrants and to appeal for a sense of moral authority. They are also taking them to the court bench to testify in quiet prayer.
On Friday, clergy members roamed the court halls in search of immigrants and customs enforcement agents. If Plaincross agents were sitting outside the courtroom, it was a good indication that internal immigrants were targeted for rapid removal after the lawsuit was heard.
The clergy are handing out informants to migrants arriving for deportation hearings at Santa Ana’s courthouse.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Cook knows that the presence of clergy does not necessarily change the outcome of legal proceedings. However, in at least one example, clergy were scattered when clergy appeared at San Diego courthouse. If nothing else, they want to provide spiritual comfort, so immigrants know they are not forgotten.
“There’s a big piece [our faith] It’s about welcoming strangers and treating immigrants with compassion and care,” Cook said. “We’re trying to appeal to higher authority than ice.”
Many of the migrants who are detained in immigration courts are asylum seekers who have come to the country using the CBP 1 mobile app that the Biden administration has been hiring since early 2023 to apply for asylum. After arriving in Mexican soil, immigrants can use the app to schedule appointments with US authorities at legal ports of entry, present asylum bidding and provide screening biographical information.
President Trump closed the CBP an hour after taking office in January. His administration has given ice personnel the authority to quickly deport tens of thousands of migrants who have been allowed to legally enter the United States for up to two years through the CBP One program, and has been in the legal battle to roll back the protections of hundreds of thousands of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, giving them temporary repetition while searching for Ashirum.
Faith leaders say the job is an extension of service for immigrants. In the past, some places of worship have opened doors to protect undocumented migrants at risk of being deported. In LA, faith leaders organized food drives for the fear of immigrants leaving their homes.
In Los Angeles and Orange Counties, nonprofit clerics and Laity United for Economic Justice mobilized clergy and provided training for court visits. In the Inland Empire, members of the clergy went to the vineyards to deal out cards that “know your rights”;
“Through history, around the world, clergy, faith leaders and spiritual leaders have truly played a catalytic role in bending the Ark towards moral justice,” said Joseph Tomás McKellar, executive director of Pico California, the state’s largest network of faith-based community organizations. “When they do it right, they leave space for others to take a walk.”
Rev. Terry Lepage will inform visitors on Friday of the appointment of the ice agent’s presence and its legal rights at Santa Ana Immigration Court in Santa Ana, California. Rev. Page says she attends immigration hearings almost every day.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
On June 11, San Diego’s Catholic parish contacted local clergy and sought help in expanding efforts to accompany immigrants to hearings.
Father Scott Santa Rosa of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, said the letters were very interested and that they must limit the number of clergymen they can attend. That Friday coincided with World Refugee Day, and held a mass before arriving at the Immigration Court.
“We didn’t plan on doing anything to get in the way, get in the way, get in the way, we were there and we observed, we said, ‘Hey, you’re not alone,'” he said.
One Venezuelan asylum seeker asked her to not be identified if she returned to her home country for fear of retaliation, and was scheduled for early June in LA County with her child. She arrived in the US in December after joining the CBP One app. The June hearing will be her first.
She knew she was in danger of deportation and wondered if she would attend her hearing. She shared her fears with the local pastor who offered to go with her. On the morning of her hearing, she arrived at court with three pastors and one translator. She felt she was protected when the judge granted a future court hearing and was allowed to leave.
“It all went well,” she said. “I feel it’s because of the Christian support I had at that moment.”
Orange County’s Unitarian Universalism Minister Cook said he attends court at least twice a week.
Initially, the ice agents seemed unwilling to stand up to religious leaders, and in some cases left the court when members of the clergy arrived.
But over time, the agents became more confrontational, telling the clergy that they had to 10 feet away from the agent. He said that after trying to escort immigrants out of court, one ice agent saw a clergy member being pushed onto the wall.
Members of the Orange County Catholic Workers Community offer quiet prayers of comfort and justice to migrants appearing in immigrants that day at immigration court.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
They continue, he said, because they feel that the work is in line with their mission of faith.
“We are the consciences on display for these people. If that causes shame and remorse, that’s good,” Cook said outside the courtroom, not far from the ice agent.
Dave Gibbons, founder of Santa Ana’s News Song Church, said that a Central American couple escorted by Central American couples took a break from a court visit after they were separated and detained in front of a child. He shed tears as he told the episode for the congregation. However, he decided to return.
“We believe it is at the heart of the gospel,” Gibbons said. “Nothing is more sacred than standing with those who are alienated.”
Orange County Community Minister Rev. Terry Lepurge attends immigration hearings almost daily. She informed immigrants were heading for their rights hearings Friday morning and handed out flyers warning ice agents were present.
That morning, the clergy encountered a Haitian man who was given a temporary protected position during the Biden administration. He arrived for an asylum hearing without a lawyer. He wore a refreshing white shirt and carried his documents in a black case.
The clergy leaders urged him to contact his family and inform them that he might be taken into custody. However, the Spanish-speaking man was sure he would be allowed to go home.
Within the court, a Homeland Security lawyer argued that despite immigration pleas, the man’s case, a request granted by the judge, should be dismissed. Sitting in the audience, Orange County Rev. Thomas Crisp looked at with disappointment and offered some final words of comfort: “May God bless you.”
The Haitian man was swarmed by federal agents and took two steps out of court before running down the stairs to the emergency exit.
This article is part of the Times Equity Report initiative funded by the James Irvine Foundation, which examines the challenges faced by low-income workers and efforts to address economic disparities in California.
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