MCC immigration staff in U.S. field urgent calls, questions

By Linda Espenshade, Mennonite Central Committee U.S. News Editor

*Maria is a pseudonym, used to protect her identity.

Maria* has a difficult decision to make in September when her legal documents that allow her to live in the United States expire.  

She could stay in the U.S., risking deportation and living under the radar, so that her young teenage daughter, a U.S. citizen, can continue living in her country. Or she could move back to Venezuela, after 16 years of living in the U.S., to a country embroiled in humanitarian and political crises so severe that 7.7 million people have fled. 

Maria came to Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) East Coast immigration attorney, Rachel Diaz, to see if she has any other options to remain legally after her Temporary Protected Status (TPS) expires.  

Like other immigrants, Maria’s fear and concerns about living in the U.S. without documentation have spiked since President Trump instructed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to apprehend 1,000 to 1,200 immigrants daily. 

Diaz explained that Maria had no legal options to stay, despite a clean criminal record, unless Trump extends TPS for Venezuelans. 

Instead, Diaz advised her to make sure she has a family preparedness plan so that her daughter would be taken care of in case Maria gets deported.   

The plan includes actions, such as:  

• Finding a trusted person to care for her daughter; 
• Signing state forms giving that trusted person permission to care for her daughter temporarily, including getting medical treatment; 
• Having a valid passport for her daughter so she can fly to Venezuela. 

“I have girls too,” says Diaz. “And here I’m telling this mom that I know has been working to give her daughter a good life that there’s nothing, no legal recourse for them at this point. So, that was tough to say.” 

As immigrants witness enforcement happening on the news and in the streets, with and without a warrant, calls to MCC’s immigration staff have increased.  

Immigrants are asking MCC staff for ways to get documentation so they can stay in the country. They also want to know how to protect their children and their assets in case they get deported. Pastors are inquiring about what to do if ICE agents come to their churches.  

MCC’s immigration staff, especially in California and Florida, respond by meeting with clients and meeting with groups in churches and schools. And they listen. 

“Sometimes I spend a good 20 minutes with people on the phone trying to listen to their situation, trying to calm them down,” says Crystal Fernandez-Benites, an immigration legal case worker for West Coast MCC. Sometimes there is no legal option, she says, “but you know, the accompaniment, the having someone, an organization where they can trust and go for guidance, I think that’s very important.”

Staff across the country are giving increasing numbers of Know Your Rights presentations in churches, schools and the community. In these presentations, participants learn practical steps to take if they are apprehended and how to exercise their constitutional rights. They include:  

• Exercise your right to stay silent. 
• Don’t sign anything except an agreement with your own attorney. 
• Carry copies of your immigration documents with you. 
• Don’t open the door unless the ICE agent shows you a warrant signed by a judge with the specific name and address of someone living in your house.
• Memorize a phone number to call from detention. (Don’t rely on your cell phone.) 

One woman who attended a training in California says that she has been very distressed by the increased ICE activity.  

“I go out feeling afraid. I only go out for the essentials, and I ask God to protect me. For me, this (training) was good because we need to be prepared and know our rights.” She now has an appointment with MCC to start the immigration process.  

Fernandez-Benites says the primary concern she hears from those attending the training is about their children. “These are people who have been in the community for a very, very long time. They have lives made here, and they have kids who were born here, and they are minors.” 

One pastor, who hosted a West Coast MCC training for her congregation of immigrants, says she and her husband, also a pastor, have been asked by at least three families to be their children’s temporary guardians.  

“They are concerned, and as they say, ‘Who else can we trust? We don’t have any relatives here.’ And if they do, they are in another state, and most of them are undocumented too,” the pastor says. She and her husband agree to support them “because my thinking is that the church is here to help.”   

For more resources for immigrants and those who want to help them, go to mcc.org/support-immigrant-neighbors. To ask your legislators to speak up for immigrants affected by Trump’s orders, as well as refugees and asylum seekers, visit mcc.org/campaign/speak-those-seeking-refuge-and-asylum. 

This post is also available in: Español (Spanish) Indonesia (Indonesian)

This post is also available in: Español (Spanish) Indonesia (Indonesian)