Pastor Luis Vizcarrondo of Cleveland and a Venezuelan immigrant who identified herself only as Rosa at a gathering of hundreds of faith leaders and immigration advocates in Columbus.
(Photo by Marty Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal.)
Donald Trump will be sworn into a second term today, and he’s expected to come out swinging, issuing executive orders and taking other action to deliver on his promise to deport masses of immigrants.
As he does, people who work with those communities are doing what they can to get ready.
“I think the administration is going to do a lot at the beginning,” Jennie Murray, president and CEO of the National Immigration Forum, said last week. “They’re going to make a splash.”
But what kind of a splash is not widely known.
There’s wide agreement that violent criminals who aren’t citizens should be shown the door. But that’s been happening through the last nine administrations, Murray said.
When it comes to people here under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, those with temporary protected status, as well as refugees and asylum seekers, opinions are much more divided.
A poll conducted in December for the National Immigration Forum and the Bulfinch Group found that 73% believe immigrants fleeing persecution should be protected and families should be kept intact. Just 34% of respondents said deportation efforts should target all undocumented immigrants.
The new administration is “going to act on what they believe is an overwhelming mandate — we don’t think it’s an overwhelming mandate — it’s much more moderate and nuanced,” Murray said.
To exchange ideas about how to cope with the fast-approaching, unknown future, hundreds of faith leaders and immigrant advocates gathered in a Columbus church on Saturday. Amid canvas tote bags and cardboard bowls of Chipotle, they sat through a full day of sessions on topics such as how to care for your immigrant neighbors, the shameful rhetoric targeting Haitian migrants in Springfield, and why followers of Jesus should care about immigrants.
Pastor Luis Vizcarrondo, whose church is in Cleveland, tried to put his audience in the shoes of the millions who are now worried that they might face deportation after risking everything to come to the United States.
“Imagine waking up every day and thinking this is the day your life unravels; the day that you or a member of your family could be deported,” he said. “How would that uncertainty affect you? It takes a deep toll on your body.”
Vizcarrondo identified a member of his church only as Rosa. He translated for her as she detailed a harrowing six-month, seven-country journey to the states from Venezuela, where chaos and oppression have pushed the poverty rate to 91% and fed the highest crime rate in the world.
“It was either (risk everything coming to the states) or die in my country,” Rosa said. “I decided to leave it to the will of God.”
Amanda Epting of Sanctuary Columbus said many immigrants suffer severe trauma on the way here, only to face more stress as they try to navigate job searches, school for their children, health care and the immigration system in a foreign land where they usually don’t speak the language. She said those trying to help immigrants need to be aware of those invisible scars.
Rev. Dr. Gabriel Salguero is an Orlando pastor who is also president of National Latino Evangelical Coalition, which has hundreds of member churches across the United States. He said many in those communities are apprehensive as the new administration approaches, and he and his colleagues are trying to help.
“There is a level of anxiety around the unknown, around mass deportations,” Salguero said. “There’s a lot of rhetoric, but not a lot of clarity of how exactly these mass deportations are going to be implemented. This has sent a chill up the spine of the Latino church, which works with large numbers of immigrants. We’re concerned that our mission will be impeded.”
He said he’s been trying to educate people about their rights and telling them not to panic. Salguero added that church members who are citizens are rallying around their undocumented counterparts.
“Our communities are very close-knit, both citizens and undocumented immigrants,” Salguero said. “We’re just trying to follow the mandate of Jesus, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.”
Matthew H. Bevere advocates for immigrants on behalf of the National Association of Evangelicals. He gives advice on how to effectively lobby Congress on their behalf, takes groups to the southern border so they can see for themselves, and he and others in his organization speak at churches and other groups.
Bevere encouraged the audience to have civil conversations with people who probably don’t agree with them about immigration. He advised people to start with the things on which they do agree. But the conversation should have a purpose beyond that, he said.
“We can’t be neutral because neutrality always favors the oppressors over the oppressed,” he said.
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