At one church, dozens of parishioners taken in Mississippi ICE raids, pastor says
FOREST, Miss. – First, the Rev. Roberto Mena called forward a couple celebrating 23 years of marriage. He blessed them and the congregation applauded. Next up were two nuns, marking more than two decades in the Catholic Church.
Mena then turned his attention to the immigration raids. When agents flooded seven Mississippi food processing plants on Aug. 7 – including two facilities in nearby Morton – dozens of Mena's parishioners were taken away. During a Thursday evening service, several people whose family members were locked up approached the front of St. Michael's Catholic Church to receive the priest's prayers.
Nearly all Mena's time these days is spent dealing with the aftermath of the raids. He estimates half those who attend St. Michael's and a sister congregation, St. Martin de Porres, in Morton, were detained – people from about 90 families. Mena and the majority of his congregants are Guatemalan, with services offered in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.
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Mena, 52, has been fielding such a steady barrage of calls from worried parishioners – wanting spiritual advice, wanting to know how to find legal help, or where to get food – that he must recharge his phone twice a day. In church and on the phone, he said, his message has been consistent.
“The church is with them, and we are a community," Mena said he stresses, adding some congregants have been fearful about attending Mass after the raids. "We are going to hold them in this difficult situation that they are facing – they are not alone.”
About 100 packed the small brick church on Thursday evening, filling nine rows of pews and overflowing into the entryway. Mena rotated between speaking English and Spanish, and several parishioners delivered lessons in Vietnamese. A band played in the corner.
"We take everything that happened, and we take it to prayer," Mena advised his congregants. He mentioned the Virgin Mary, saying that she was concerned about her sons and daughters in this difficult moment. He added: "When we are suffering and in pain, we connect with the suffering and pain of Jesus Christ."
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The priest's voice sometimes rose in frustration. "We don't know exactly how it's going to happen, but we are kneeling and praying that all of the people from our parish will be back here! I want them here!" he said, referencing members of his community locked up in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers on suspicion of illegally entering the country.
Mena said he worries some affected by the raids – especially children – could suffer psychological damage. "This is what these people, my people, are feeling," he said.
After the service, Felix Ramirez, 42, and Eduardo Perez, 41, discussed what their families faced in recent days. Two of Ramirez's nephews continue to be detained. Perez's wife was arrested, but released in the first day. His sister also was picked up by immigration agents and remains locked inside a Louisiana facility.
'Life has become a nightmare' after ICE raids, parishioner says
Perez, with Mena translating, said he came to Forest about 15 years ago after fleeing violence in Guatemala. He said he sought "freedom and peace" and the "American dream" – but in recent days his life has become a "nightmare." For the first time, he said, he feels fearful in his own community.
Flanked by his sons Abraham, 11, and Pablo, 9, he said he worries whether he will be able to support his family for long without a second salary.
Ramirez also has lived in the Forest area about 15 years. When he first heard rumors of the raids, he said he didn't believe it.
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But then he began to see the videos and pictures on Facebook, he said, and heard children in his neighborhood crying. His extended family is in "grief and pain" over his nephews being detained. Attending church, he said, has helped release some of the dread in their hearts.
Ramirez said Mississippians should know that many of those detained "are good workers," and they "did not come here to steal anything from anyone. They are only here to work, to clothe their families."
Mena previously ministered in Compton, California, and Bainbridge, Georgia, before arriving in Mississippi more than a year ago.
On one hand, he said he worries about the future of his churches. Many Guatemalan families already are saying goodbye, planning moves to other states in search of work. Still, Mena said, he feels a renewed sense of purpose as he guides his parishioners through this difficult time.
“I have realized," he said, "why God sent me to this community – to accompany my fellow Guatemalans in this situation. Like Moses.”
Follow Luke Ramseth on Twitter: @lramseth
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi ICE raids: Dozens of parishioners from one church detained
