This article originally appeared in Spanish on the  Universidad Bíblica Latinoamericana (UBL) blog here. Rvda. Dra. Neddy Astudillo is an Eco-theologian and Coordinator of the Climate Justice and Faith Spanish program at Pacific Lutheran Seminary.

Entering the United States without authorization is a civil offense equivalent to running a red light. This becomes a crime when a person who has been deported for the first time crosses the border again without permission. 

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The indiscriminate persecution and kidnapping of immigrants as they leave their immigration appointments, at their workplaces, schools, and parks has become commonplace. Added to this is their disappearance and subsequent transfer to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador without due process, as well as the sudden invalidation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of immigrants. These events are not the result of a sudden increase in crime on their part, but rather a cruel strategy that uses their bodies as scapegoats to confuse and control minds and hearts in the face of growing militarization of the streets and the lives of Americans.

Presbyterian Congresswoman Kathy Castor recently said at a public meeting on immigration in Tampa, Florida, that “the government is playing on the fears and prejudices of Americans.” Even though the Trump administration threatened to deport criminal immigrants during its election campaign, and former President Obama deported even more people during his time in office, the cruelty of recent days has not been seen since the signing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

“Apparently, we are all in a state of temporary protection,” said African American Reverend Norm Hatter, coordinator of the Tampa Bay Presbytery's Racial Equity Committee, when he heard pastors' testimonies about what is happening in our Latino congregations. People are no longer coming to church, not even to get food, and others arrive in fear. This has been happening since the Trump administration revoked the Protected Areas policy, which limited the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in religious centers, schools, and hospitals. Today, there is no protected place.

Pastor Hatter is no stranger to racial discrimination. During his childhood, he witnessed the “black codes,” where Black people could be jailed just for talking too loudly in the company of white women, for staring carelessly at white people, for being unemployed, or for walking near railroad tracks. At that time, even though other civil rights laws prohibited discrimination based on skin color, laws were created to keep black people controlled, vulnerable, exploited as cheap labor. In those days, slavery no longer existed officially, but prisons, then filled with “offenders,” became the new source of unpaid workers. This is still happening today.

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Today, human rights organizations such as the ACLU, LULAC, and others denounce that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is systematically detaining, without due process, people of color who arrived legally in the United States, who have the right to work, and who are not criminals. After the groups filed a lawsuit before a federal judge in California and won the case, ICE can no longer detain or arrest people in the city of Los Angeles based on their appearance, language, or place of work. However, the government's response was to immediately request the intervention of the Supreme Court to rule on ICE arrests based on physical appearance, so that it could continue its discriminatory operations.

While the Church is still divided on how to respond to the current violation of immigration rights and discrimination against immigrants, community and religious leaders began to gather for vigils in the state of Florida (in front of a detention center on the ancestral territory of the Miccosukee people = Everglades National Park), called together by the voice of an indigenous woman, Betty Osceola.

In this detention center, pejoratively called “Alligator Alcatraz” cruelty and beauty, faith and struggles for immigration, racial, indigenous, environmental, and climate justice converge.

Allied congressmen and lawyers recount the reality of a place that should be called a concentration camp, due to its overcrowding, the fact that people are locked in cages, with bathrooms that flood when it rains, the lack of medical care and a safe space to meet when legal aid arrives for the detainees.

Environmental groups said that instead of investing in efforts to adapt and protect one of the country's most vulnerable places in the face of the climate crisis, the government decided to use millions of dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to build this center. This was done without conducting environmental impact studies, without prior consultation with the Miccosukee community, or taking into account the endangered species already living in the swamp.

Fixated on the androcentric idea of a detention center surrounded by alligators, the government poured 800,000 square feet of pavement over the area and brought in generators to light up the nights, with light visible up to 30 miles away, disturbing the ecosystem of Florida's protected bats and panthers, as well as the Miccosukee community living just 10 miles away.

Thus, the government created its own perfect storm. The Miccosukee and environmental groups joined forces in a lawsuit against the national and local governments, citing the irreparable damage this center poses to the fragile ecosystem that is also their home. On August 27, a federal judge confirmed the order to dismantle the site within 60 days.

Soon, the swamp will once again be under the care of the Miccosukee, but the need for racial and immigration justice for the 3,000 people the government seeks to deport every day remains unresolved because its priority is to continue building new detention centers and there is no will to move toward immigration reform that would give permanent status to the more than 12 million immigrants already living and working in the country.

As long as the hunt for immigrants continues, the mobilization of people of faith and their allies cannot stop. Solidarity and organization among diverse sectors must be strengthened, as in this case described in the swamp; it must become clearer, more audible, and more active. The fate of the panther, indigenous peoples, migrants, black and white communities is closely linked, and there is power in action when we come together.

During the vigil on the Sunday before the federal judge's ruling, Nick Carey, organizer of Faith in Florida (a coalition of congregations working for social justice), said:

"We reject white Christian nationalism... Although our current struggle is against the Trump and DeSantis administrations, we must also recognize that this detention center is the culmination of more than 100 years of U.S. foreign policy. Trump has given free rein to ICE, which grew stronger and larger under both the Biden and Obama administrations. We must seek solutions! We must aspire to more ambitious solutions that do not fall short, until we achieve the liberation of all people! We may not know how to solve this, but let's figure it out together.“

In the words of young poet Rose Cervantes, also present: ”I don't have to do this alone. Liberation is collective!" 

The Office of Public Witness has offered the following action alerts to help facilitate advocacy related to immigration issues:

• On immigrant communities https://www.votervoice.net/mobile/PCUSA/Campaigns/129550/Respond
• Concerns of the “Big Beautiful Bill” and its impacts on immigrant communities (and others)  https://www.votervoice.net/mobile/PCUSA/Campaigns/128396/Respond

The Presbyterian Hunger Program is grateful for the the work of countless Presbyterians who have been and are engaged around the country and the way that through them the church is present even when denominational staff are not there. We may not all act as one body, but when we show up, we are participating in a theological act that is reflective of PCUSA social witness policy and helping us get a little closer to God’s wholeness.