United Methodists stand up for immigrants
 | Resources for Immigration |  |
Cause for hope and concern - resources |
BY LINDA WORTHINGTON
UMCONNECTION STAFF
A few weeks ago a congregant at Camino de Vida UMC in Gaithersburg was detained on Route 270, not because of his erratic driving or an accident, but because he looked Hispanic, said his pastor the Rev. David Juan Rocha.
He was arrested, taken to jail without cause and deported to El Salvador, leaving someone else to provide for his sister and a nephew in the hospital being treated for cancer.
Rocha pointed out that "undocumented" is a matter of civil law, not criminal law. "Civil law does not take people to jail," he said.
The arrest of Señor Morejon illustrates one of the many and increasing concerns about immigration policies in this country and locally.
Because crime has increased in Montgomery County, county officials proposed a change in its policy so that county police would have new unrestricted powers to inform federal immigration enforcement (usually referred to as ICE, "Immigration and Customs Enforcement") in the arrest of foreign-born people for either misdemeanors or felonies, subjecting them to deportation. Prior to this time the county stood firmly against local police enforcing federal immigration laws.
The United Methodist Church, in its 2008 Book of Resolutions, deplores such policies. "The use of local law enforcement as immigration agents should be stopped," it says. "When local law enforcement officials engage in immigration enforcement, immigrants are often unwilling to report crimes and are forced to live in situations where they are exploited, abused and victimized."
In February, Rocha asked the conference for help to alert churches and their members to the proposed restrictive policy. Individuals and churches contacted the county executive, stating opposition to police detentions based on an individual's place of birth and to police collaboration with ICE.
It seemed to have helped. Only days later, County Executive Isaiah Leggett sent an order to law enforcement officials: " (Only) the names of ... persons arrested and charged in Montgomery County for crimes of violence ... or for carrying, wearing or transporting a handgun ... will be forwarded to ICE," he wrote. That action alleviated many of the existing concerns over racial profiling of immigrants.
Rocha is pleased with the subsequent cooperation between county officials, the police and the community. "We're comfortable with the changes in the law," he said. "If someone breaks the law (i.e., commits a crime), they need to be confronted."
"We think the policy is a good compromise," said Kerry O'Brien, head of the legal department for Casa of Maryland, the state's largest immigration advocacy group, and a partner with the Baltimore-Washington Conference on several social justice issues. "It could have been a lot worse for the immigrant community...It goes a long way toward allaying concerns of racial profiling."
Frederick, a different story
While Montgomery County maintains relatively humane treatment of immigrants and the law, Frederick County has become more restrictive. Frederick County police are deputized by federal authorities to enforce all immigration laws. Prince Georges County and Washington, D.C., do not check immigration status.
The Frederick County Sheriff's Office signed on last April to the Department of Homeland Security's controversial voluntary "287g" program, which allows ICE to train local and state officers to make immigration-related arrests. The county's sheriff, Chuck Jenkins, hailed the program as a boon to combat "an enormous increase in violent crime, which can be tied directly to illegal immigration."
Montgomery's Police Chief, J. Thomas Manger, disagrees with 287g because "it undermines the trust and cooperation of immigrant communities," he said. "It just (doesn't) work in large, urban jurisdictions."
"Manger is a person of principle," Rocha said. When Camino de Vida UMC celebrated its fifth anniversary March 29, the Hispanic congregation presented the police chief with an award in appreciation of his just policies. The Rev. Tim Warner, in extension ministry with Montgomery County's Community Liaison Office, was the preacher.
Pastor Maria "Milly" Rivera's ministry in Frederick is with the Hispanic community. She sees police arrests of Hispanic people almost daily. Recently a man called her for help. He said the police arrested him while he was riding his bicycle and demanded to see his "papers." He didn't understand what the policeman wanted. The man received a $100 fine, a large amount of money for someone who lives day-to-day economically.
Part of Rivera's community ministry is to be a liaison and interpreter between families and the police when someone is arrested, and to help family members find alternative living arrangements when the wage-earning member is deported.
Arrests are made at work sites, in places such as the Frederick Mall, where Hispanics gather, in traffic for any kind of perceived infraction, and even in people's homes, Rivera said. One woman called her for help when the police came one night at 11 p.m. and took her husband. The next day they came to get her.
When the Frederick police arrest someone, for whatever reason, including being in the wrong place at the wrong time, they ask for "papers." Sometimes the person arrested doesn't understand what the police are looking for because of limited English.
A person is unlikely to be able to prove citizenship; a driver's license is insufficient. The person is thus caught in an unjust situation, unable to prove innocence.
One time, Rivera was stopped, accused of breaking a traffic law, she said. She told the arresting officer she is a citizen and showed her driver's license and social security card.
When he saw that she was a hospital chaplain, he let her go with a warning. Most arrestees don't have such credentials, she said.
Casa of Maryland filed a lawsuit against the Frederick sheriff's office in January, after determining that a quarter of Frederick's 287g arrests were for driving violations (not a chargeable crime).
Frederick's growing immigrant community "see the sheriff's office as something to be avoided at all costs," said Casa's Justin Cox. "Not just the undocumented folks, but everyone."
"There's a lot of fear in the Frederick Hispanic community," Rivera said. "They are even afraid to go to church."
Bishop advocates for immigrants
The current national debate centers on what to do with the population of undocumented immigrants in the United States, numbering between 12 and 14 million people, who come in search of a sustainable income.
Bishop Minerva Carcaño of the Desert Southwest Area spoke at a press conference on Capitol Hill Feb. 11, to help launch a national interfaith campaign for humane immigration reform.
"As a people of faith, we cannot and will not stand by in silence while young people die, families are separated, individual freedoms are ignored, and the immigrant community in the U.S. is treated unjustly and inhumanely," she declared. "No more!"
People of faith must stand up for immigrants or "the moral fiber of this country will be torn beyond repair," Carcaño said.
Dozens of people came to First UMC in Hyattsville Feb. 18, for one of more than 200 prayer vigils held across the country. Appearing on ABC News that evening, the Rev. Joan Carter-Rimbach said, "We thought it was our obligation and our duty to respond to immigration reform to help push this along."
JFON provides legal help
A Justice for Our Neighbors clinic meets at First UMC. "We welcome folks in once a month and help them with immigration issues," Carter-Rimbach said.
JFON is a network of missions of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, annual conferences and local congregations, started by the General Board of Global Ministries in 1999. It is largely a volunteer-based program with a few paid staff.
Ten or more volunteers welcome people to each of the three JFON clinics in the Conference area - at Salem UMC in Baltimore, Emory UMC in Washington, and First UMC in Hyattsville - with a main administrative office in Woodside UMC in Silver Spring.
All have the same mission: to provide free, high-quality immigration legal services and a warm welcome to immigrants, to promote education for ministry and advocacy, and to encourage theological reflection on biblical imperatives that clarify the moral issues raised by U.S. immigration policy and the U.S. treatment of newcomers.
Monique Bona, the JFON lawyer, one of very few paid staff, handles five to eight cases at each monthly clinic at each site. About one-third of her 100-client case load is Hispanic, one-third are from a French-speaking area, such as West Africa or Haiti; and one-third from the Caribbean and other English speaking countries. Bona conducts ongoing client services at her office in Woodside UMC.
One of her recent cases took more than two years to complete, Bona said. A nominally Muslim woman from Guinea-Conakry in West Africa, married to a U.S. citizen, was referred by Maryland Victim Services, under VAWA, the Violence Against Women Act, because she was terribly battered and had no one to turn to. She qualified to become a U.S. citizen, but her husband refused to allow her to, or to apply for the necessary papers.
One day while meeting with Bona, she broke down, was unable to continue. "She was a real mess," Bona said.
The Rev. Rachel Cornwell prayed with her and calmed her, and the client is grateful, recognizing the support she received from both lawyer and pastor. "(Cornwell) gives great support to clients," Bona said.
Bona's client was approved last month for a green card, the legal permit that showed the necessary residency to become a citizen. "Because of her experience here," Bona said, "she has shown interest in joining the church."
This "special twist," of caring and pastoring, to legal services is what makes JFON a ministry, not just an immigrant legal service, Bona said.
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A growing concern Get Connected United Methodist stance Reach out to Justice The Web site is: http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/refugees/justicetext.stm . Get involved A Biblical witness -- Leviticus 19:33-34. |
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