On July 23, Assemblies of God pastors, Nepthali Zozaya and his wife, Cinthia Sarai Cardona, placed their children (a 7-year-old and 3-year-old twins) in the care of friends and left Edinburg, TX, for a retreat sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. They never arrived. Instead of the retreat center, the couple spent the next 2 days in a Texas detention center after ICE agents arrested them at the airport. According to a statement by the Department of Homeland Security, Pastor Zozaya and his wife were in the US on expired visas. (Church leaders disputed the DHS statement, claiming that the couple was living in the US with valid religious workers visas.) They were released unexpectedly on July 25.
While they and their congregation are grateful for their release, their time in detention was traumatizing. They were “pressured” again and again (including in a 2:00 am interrogation of his wife by ICE agents) to sign voluntary departure papers under threats of lengthy incarceration without any contact with their children and deportation to different third countries — not their home country of Mexico. Even their faith was questioned and mocked. They finally signed the papers, unable to bear the thought of separation from their children. They later learned that they could “revoke” their signatures, which they have done.
The couple’s experience reveals how vulnerable migrants, asylum seekers are when targeted by ICE. Pastors Zozaya and Cardona were detained for 2 days. Thousands of others have been detained for weeks and months.
Detainees around the country have reported similar conditions and pressure to self-deport. Representative Delia Ramirez (D-IL) and two other Representatives visited the Campbell County Detention Center in Newport, KY, on July 27 to check on the condition of two of her constituents who are diabetic. She was appalled by what she saw and heard—lack of access to medical care and necessary medication — including insulin, carb-heavy food that was inappropriate for people with diabetes and food that had expired, and overcrowded cells. Everywhere she turned, detainees were pleading for her help.
At a press conference following his release, Pastor Zozaya pleaded that churches to unite in support of migrants and asylum seekers “who have been deprived of their liberty, those who are separated from their loved ones, those who are facing such difficult moments like we lived these past days.” Reiunted with his congregation on Sunday, July 26, he prayed that God would intervene for a just immigration policy and asked God to motivate all Christians to help make justice a reality.
Hopefully, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin — a member of an Assemblies of God congregation—was listening. Hopefully, all Christians have ears to hear the message: Faith—even Christian faith — will not protect you from ICE detention or the draconian policies of the current administration.
Let’s pray Pastor Zozaya’s prayer daily and then be the answer to our prayers.
Information for this story was taken from two reports by Aleja Hertzler-McCain a journalist with Religion News Service.
Tongue on Fire 