The church in Chicago that suspended religious services in Spanish for fear of deportations before Trump’s arrival
Image source, Getty Images
As a reverend of the church, Tanya Lozano made a decision that she would have preferred to avoid: the suspension of in-person religious services in Spanish, due to threats of deportations of undocumented migrants.
Chicago’s Lincoln United Methodist Church offered services in Spanish on Sundays at noon. They were favorable occasions for non-English speaking migrants to hear the word of Jesus, surrounded by other believers who share the challenge of settling in the United States.
But facing the inauguration of Donald Trump, scheduled for this Monday, January 20, the pastors and the community decided to take measures to defend themselves from the deportations that the Republican leader promises to carry out during his second term.
“The decision for the service in Spanish to become virtual has been collective, it belongs to the entire congregation,” Lozano told BBC Mundo. “We are preparing to help undocumented and mixed-status families.”
Lozano refers both to families of undocumented parents who have been in the United States for decades and whose children are Americans, and to young migrants who arrived in recent years, with minor children and who fear being separated in a deportation process.
“We already have children who are starting to be afraid of going to school and not finding their parents when they come home,” he warned. “We do not want to put any member of our congregation at risk of being deported,” he said in justifying the cancellation of the service.
During Trump’s first term, family separation was applied as a strategy to deter migrants from entering US territory irregularly.
Although this “zero tolerance” policy was deactivated, amid harsh criticism from human rights organizations, more than 4,600 children were separated from their parents.
“The threat is real,” American-born parishioner David Cruseno told the BBC.
His mother entered illegally from Mexico but has been working and paying taxes in the United States for 30 years.
“With this new government it’s almost like persecution,” Cruseno told the BBC. “We are being singled out in a way that is unfair even though we continually cooperate with this country,” he added.
Image source, Courtesy of Tanya Lozano
The “ground zero” of deportations
Thomas Homan, promoter of the law that protected family separation in Trump’s first term (2017 to 2021), will be in charge of directing immigration policies in his second term.
Known as the “border czar,” Homan assured that Chicago will be “ground zero” of the mass deportation plan, the first city where the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) will undertake the capture of undocumented people.
“On January 21st you will see many ICE agents in your city looking for criminals and gang members,” Homan told Republican supporters gathered at an event in Chicago. “Count on it, it’s going to happen.”
Although current laws prohibit arrests of migrants in churches, schools and hospitals, the Trump administration is expected to repeal those regulations.
Image source, Mike Wendling/BBC
“We prefer that they not be here”
Lincoln United Methodist Church is located in Pilsen, a largely Latino neighborhood on the banks of the Chicago River. For decades, the members of this institution have gained extensive experience in defending the rights of migrants.
The Reverend Slim Coleman, Lozano’s father, founded the church that in 2006 gave shelter for months to the Mexican activist Elvira Arellano, whose fight against deportation raids opened a debate in public opinion about the rights of undocumented migrants.
Ten years later, in July 2016, the church building was the target of a racist attack, after graffiti appeared on the doors that read: “Rape and kill Mexico! Trump rules” Trump rules).
Three years later, a white man broke into the church and insulted the employees while making gestures that vindicated Nazism.
“If we become the target of a hate crime or an attack by anti-immigrant groups, we would have to call the police or the FBI,” Lozano said. “That would also endanger the members of our community, which is why we prefer that they not be here,” he said, referring to the cancellation of the religious service in Spanish.
Image source, Getty Images
A sanctuary city
During the government of Democratic President Joe Biden, Chicago was a sanctuary city, as localities that protect the rights of migrants are known, amid attacks from Trump and other Republican leaders, who demanded more radical measures to stop migration. irregular.
To challenge the Democrats, the Republican governors of states in the south of the country, such as Arizona, Florida and Texas, decided to send undocumented migrants on buses and planes to sanctuary cities and with a Democratic majority like Chicago.
Over time, the authorities of these cities were forced to recognize the collapse of local facilities intended to care for migrants.
In the case of Chicago, which received more than 25,000 migrants in a year and a half, the shelters were overflowing and the migrants, mostly Venezuelans, ended up being housed in police stations.
Image source, Santiago Vanegas/BBC
Despite the pressure that the arrival of migrants placed on Chicago, the electorate of the city and the state of Illinois remained loyal to the Democrats during the presidential elections in November of last year.
Although Lozano trusts in the social support of Chicago residents for migrants, he considers that being a sanctuary city is “a double-edged sword” facing the beginning of a new Trump period.
“On the one hand, it’s great to know that we have a city and state government on our side, but on the other hand it has made us a target. They want to make an example of us.”
* With reporting by BBC journalist Mike Wendling.
Subscribe here to our new newsletter to receive a selection of our best content of the week every Friday.
And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and activate them.
