Faith leaders in Nebraska take action in immigration advocacy

On a dark and icy Wednesday, a crowd of people head into the chapel of First-Plymouth Church in Lincoln.

But they’re not going for prayer. They’re going to learn about immigration law.

Graham Pansing Brooks has been a lifelong member of the church and attended the almost two-hour presentation along with about 100 other attendees.

“It's critically important that we have a fundamental understanding of our neighbors, of the people that are being impacted, and what we can do to be more caring, loving people in the world,” he said after the session. “It's critically important that we're learning, that we're understanding, that we're getting educated.”

That’s why Pastor Juan Carlos Huertas, originally from Puerto Rico, planned the event. It’s part of a larger series with the church called “Love Your Neighbor” focused on all things immigration. He started the series after President Donald Trump made changes to immigration enforcement policies, causing a flurry of arrests and deportations across the country.

“Folks who are immigrants are afraid, they’re anxious, they’re wondering what will happen next,” said the pastor of 20 years. “I want the church to be the place, our worship time and our facility, to be the place where folks feel rooted, oriented, safe. A place where they are not just an immigration status, but they are human beings God made.”

Under a directive from Trump, the Department of Justice declared Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would no longer respect the tradition of treating churches as sanctuary, an ancient but non-legally-binding custom.

The roots for claiming sanctuary stem from the Torah, or the Hebrew bible, and inspired the creation of what are known as sanctuary cities today, in which a city does not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

Gov. Jim Pillen ordered all state agencies to comply with the crackdown shortly after Trump’s implementation of increased immigration enforcement.

Jim Keck serves as the senior minister of First Plymouth and has been a minister for 35 years. He said ICE raids are not and will not be welcome within the church.

“My first reaction is that that’s just crass fear-mongering and politics. I’m deeply frustrated by it. But I’ll tell you this, if the government says we’re not sanctuary, we’ll double down on being sanctuary,” he said. “You’re going to see churches work for new, creative ways to subvert that.”

Keck acknowledged the church must still follow the law, but said if ICE officials do not have a warrant, there will be resistance and he will ask them to leave the premises. He said the role of the church has always been to protect the most vulnerable people, and those on the margins of society.

“I feel like we play a major part in if the American experiment is going to work, you have to be able to share diverse opinions without rancor, without attacking one another, and try to develop better understandings," Keck said. "We practice that in churches."

Huertas’ “Love Your Neighbor” is a six-part series where the pastor hopes to highlight that mission of the church to respect differences among people and the plight of the poor. The sessions arm congregations with information about immigration, constitutional rights and how the Bible provides teachings that can be applied to today’s environment. Guest speakers included a Jewish rabbi, immigration attorneys and advocates from marginalized communities.

This idea of educating faith leaders and church members goes beyond one denomination.

Bishop Scott Barker leads the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska. He's advised his clergy members at the 53 worshiping communities in the state to learn about immigration policies and will advise them to have immigration lawyers on speed dial.

“We're working hard with the larger Episcopal Church to try to navigate this moment faithfully and wisely and part of what that means is we're learning about how to best serve folks who might be undocumented and would present themselves for help," he said.

Recently Barker visited one of his congregations. He said the visit confirmed for him the incredible concern and fear some immigrant communities are experiencing.

Pew Research Center estimated the majority of immigrants without documentation identify as Christian. An estimated 83% are Christian, beating out the U.S.-born population at just below 80%.

“If we're going to be serious about applying the teachings of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus himself, so much of what Jesus says and does is about inclusion of people who are outcast, people who are minorities, people who are othered in all kinds of ways,” Barker said. “So it's disheartening to hear so much of the conversation about immigration striving for easy solutions to hard problems that end up hurting the human beings that are caught up in these challenging issues.”

Both Barker and Keck said their churches do not inquire about immigration status, and would not be able to provide the status of their congregations even if asked.

“I know that the issue of immigration is a real challenge and even problem for our nation, but imagining that we can just throw people out and that that will somehow fix things is really wrong-headed,” Barker said. “From a faith perspective, it's a non-starter. I mean, it shouldn't even be on the table for people of faith, but that's not always what's running the conversation.”

Not inquiring about immigration status goes for Catholic churches as well.

Nebraska’s Catholic Bishops issued a letter in support of these immigrants in both Spanish and English, saying they will advocate statewide and nationally for respect to human dignity and family relationships among conversations about mass deportations.

Deacon Gregorio Elizalde, the director of Hispanic ministry for the Archdiocese of Omaha, said ever since he was a young boy in Mexico, he always wanted to serve people.

“There is fear, there is anguish, there is sometimes rejection," he said. "So as a church, what we do is to accompany people, people who cast away from God. We need to give them a message of hope, a message of trust, that they are not alone."

Elizalde added it’s his job to support people, regardless of their immigration status. He emphasized the church never asks people what their immigration status is.

“We cannot change the laws, but we can do advocacy," he said. "We can ask for a better law, but what we can do is to accompany people, and that's what we are doing. And we are doing advocacy. We are accompanying people on their realities."

This reflects a recent similar letter sent out by Pope Francis rebuking the Trump administration’s stance on mass deportations.

In his letter, the Pope echoed this thought by saying mass deportations “damages the dignity” of communities.

Tom Venzor, the executive director of the Nebraska Catholic Conference, focuses much of his work on public policy. His father came to the U.S. from Mexico, so he has always had a place in his heart for immigration work.

“For us as Catholics, the story of being immigrants, of being on an exodus, of being on a journey, is actually very core to our identity," he said. "The church in America is very much a migrant church, whether we look at our Hispanic, Latino communities, whether we look at the Irish, the German, the Italians, our faith is very much rooted in people who came to this country searching for opportunity, for hope."

Venzor said welcoming strangers is a foundation of the Catholic faith. He added the withdrawal of the memo from the Trump administration is concerning because it raises questions about how immigration enforcement is going to take place in sensitive places like churches and schools.

He clarified the church would cooperate with law enforcement when there are valid, lawful warrants. Based on conversations with some local law enforcement, Venzor does not anticipate mass raids to occur in the churches or schools.

“At the end of the day, each and every one of us are human beings who have been created in the image and likeness of God, and there's a human dignity that's at the core of who we are,” he said. "And that’s regardless of immigration status, every person deserves to be treated with dignity.”

Elizalde works with the Centro Pastoral Tepeyac in Omaha. It is hosting information sessions, similar to the Love Your Neighbor series in which people can learn about their rights and what to do if they are stopped by immigration enforcement. They also help people prepare in the case of deportation and how to designate temporary parental rights in case families are separated.

More than two dozen Christian and Jewish groups have filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration’s directive allowing ICE agents more leeway in places of worship.