ARIZONA: Episcopalians assess implications of immigration law
Episcopal News Service. May 13, 2010 [051310-03]
Pat McCaughan
The Rev. Canon Carmen B. Guerrero remembers living with the fear of her mother, a third-generation Mexican American, "who would never go close to the border because she was afraid of getting deported, although she had been born here."
For Guerrero, canon for peace and justice in the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona, the state's tough anti-illegal immigration law feels a bit like déjà vu.
Guerrero described suffering of her parishioners because of the immigration debacle.
An undocumented woman in her congregation, identified only as "Señora," received news her mother was ill and went to Mexico for a visit, leaving behind two young children, Guerrero said. By the time she arrived, her mother had died, and "the only way Señora could return was to go through the desert."
On her way back "she fell off a cliff, into a river. The people traveling with her made a human chain to get her out. It was January, and cold. Her pants froze. She didn't think she could get up, but the others kept encouraging her. She just kept praying because all she could think of was her kids and how much they needed her and what would happen to them if she didn't get back to them. It was very sad."
The law has already affected Señora's family, Guerrero said. "Her seven-year-old watches the news and asks, 'Mommy, what's going to happen to me if they take you away?'"
The Rev. Enrique Cadena, vicar of Iglesia Episcopal de San Pablo in Phoenix, where at least one-half the congregation is undocumented, said the law known as Senate Bill 1070, which aims to identify, prosecute and deport the undocumented, has had the net effect of "making already desperate people feel more desperate and fearful.
"Now, any police who have the suspicion, the mere suspicion, that someone is undocumented, can stop them and ask for documents," he said.
"Just by the color of our skin, any of us can be stopped ... leading to the possibility that the police have all the authority to abuse people instead of serving them."
He said that a young couple in his congregation was separated from their nine-year-old child after law enforcement officials raided the car wash where both parents worked. "They took everybody working there," he said. Eventually, the situation was resolved, both parents were able to stay and were reunited with their son, he said. "They don't have criminal records -- they were just working, just trying to make a living."
Now parishioners are afraid even to seek medical treatment at local hospitals or doctor and dentist offices for fear of being asked to prove citizenship, he said.
The church is trying to find alternatives and to present itself "as a sanctuary where they can come. We hope that that will be respected by the government, that the government won't violate our churches and won't try to harass people within churches."
Reactions to the law have fueled tensions in some congregations where there is a diversity of opinion.
The Rev. Melinda Archer serves two congregations -- one Anglo and one Hispanic – at St. Andrew's Church in Phoenix.
Archer said the law has instilled fear among her Hispanic congregation, which numbers about 100 on a typical Sunday. "They are afraid to go a lot of places because they're afraid to be picked up or arrested," she said during a May 10 telephone interview.
"The sadness is, so many have come here seeking a better life for themselves and their families. They're very good people, certainly not criminals, or drug lords or violent. They find themselves being profiled and targeted as being members of that type of community when that's the last thing on their minds."
One parishioner, who had worked his way up to head chef at a local resort community, lost his job after his employer "was forced about a month ago to look at social security numbers of some employees. His was not a legal one," she said.
"They are a college-educated mother and father with three children, all of whom are excellent students. The employer was forced to make him leave. It was very sad, even for the employer."
Nonetheless, Ruthann Stark, 60, a St. Andrew's member for a dozen years, said she supports the law. "I am a grandchild of immigrants who came here legally and did things the right way. They took the citizenship test in English and not their home language."
She believes the lawmakers "were very careful when they wrote the law to make sure there was no possible room for abuse," Stark said. "It's not a law where they can go right out and look at people and point at you and say, 'you look like you're illegal, we want to check you out.' They can't grab somebody off the street and say, 'you look illegal.'"
But Connie Kentfield, 73, a licensed lay pastor and member of St. Andrew's Anglo congregation for about 20 years, strongly disagreed.
She said that if the law goes into effect, then the law enforcement officers "better be stopping every white person, too. That law is subject to abuse ... and it does not do a … thing to stop illegal immigration.
"I truly, truly hope it gets fixed," added Kentfield during a May 10 interview from the church, where she was counting Sunday collections. "Otherwise, we are going to lose a lot of good Christian people."
Guerrero said seeing the congregation intimidated by law enforcement officials while serving on Good Friday at Iglesia de San Pablo prompted her to begin a Spanish ministry at Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix. That was two years ago and the congregation has grown from ten to 350.
"The Maricopa County sheriff does these crime prevention sweeps and he parked his van right in front of the church on Good Friday," she said. "People were coming in the back way, parking their cars two and three blocks away and trying to sneak into the church.
"I called the bishop. He came over and tried to talk to them. That sparked the start of the new congregation."
In an April 29 press release posted on the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office website Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced the kick-off of a "15th crime suppression/illegal immigration operation … undertaken by approximately 200 deputies and posse volunteers since similar operations began in March of 2008."
According to the release, "past operations, while always controversial, have resulted in numerous arrests of both U.S. citizens and illegal immigrants. In the 14 previous operations … arrest totals were 839 people, of which 436 were illegal aliens charged with various criminal and/or immigration violations."
"This has the feel and the appearance of being the most negative thing that could ever happen," Guerrero said.
"But ... God can take things and turn them around ... and make something good out of something meant to be evil," she added. "Maybe now the federal government will take immigration reform off the back burner."