Standing ‘on the kin-dom side of history’
PC(USA) congregations raise awareness and advocate for families in detention
Last month, outside the ICE detention center in Broadview, Illinois, the Rev. David Black of First Presbyterian Church of Chicago raised his arms toward federal officers and made an altar call. As reported by Jack Jenkins of Religion News Service, Black said, “I invited them to repentance. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”
Footage of Black being shot with a pepper ball was widely distributed online.
As the United States government has deployed militarized and often secretive officers to conduct immigration raids in Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, and elsewhere, Presbyterians have confronted them. From coast to coast, local congregations have tried to raise the consciousness of their neighbors, and have advocated for families in detention.
Protests in Portland took on renewed urgency after Sept. 25, when President Trump issued a social media call to the Department of Defense to “protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.”
Clergy in Portland, Oregon had been gathering outside Portland’s ICE facility since June, typically in small numbers, alongside ordinary people suddenly branded “domestic terrorists” — specifically to emphasize that acts of public witness are not often tidy or polite. Says the Rev. Junha Kim of Westminster Presbyterian Church, “Solidarity means solidarity — not with those who look or act or protest the same, but with all those who are standing on the kin-dom side of history.”
Multnomah Presbyterian Church members gathered at Portland’s immigration center in September in peaceful protest, again emphasizing that the Rose City is not as it’s depicted in right-wing media. “It is not a violent war zone as some suggest. There is love for neighbors and advocating for an end to cruelty,” says Heather Hellman, a commissioned ruling elder. “There is lament, there is prayer, there are songs, there is standing together in love.”
The congregation had a background in accompaniment of migrants, having sponsored a family without legal immigration status in order to reunite them with their father in the 2000s. Hellman and others in the Presbytery of the Cascades, along with human rights workers and lawyers, walk alongside migrants as they leave the federal building in Portland. A recent ICE tactic has been to arrest people off the street as they make their required check-ins before an immigration judge. In deploying bodies alongside these people, Portlanders have all but eliminated arrests outside the courthouse.
The ongoing protests outside the Portland ICE facility have drawn in residents of low-income housing across the street. Though media reports tend to emphasize conflict between the residents and the protesters — one person sued the city to enforce its noise ordinances back in July – Hellman emphasizes that there’s unity among the rotating cast of protesters and the nearby residents.
“Most of the people that we’ve met are supportive of the protesters because they do not believe that what is happening is just and they want to stand with their immigrant neighbors,” Hellman said.
The scene in the past week, compared to weeks prior, has largely been calm. Costume and dance, especially the widely shared footage of “Portland Frog,” have typified the protests. “There’s currently a clothing rack of inflatable costumes,” says Hellman. “A lot of the residents were putting those on and going over and dancing with the protesters.”
In Chicago, protesters used liturgical objects — there, the monstrance bearing the body of Christ — to challenge the authorities. Said Fr. Larry Dowling in a Facebook post, “Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”
For Presbyterians preparing for public marches, use of identifying clerical dress — another costume — is fraught but done with purpose. Hellman chose to wear the collar and stole to protests, despite her early qualms.
“Presbyterians, we believe in the priesthood of all believers, so I don't like being set apart in that way. But then when I was out there and people came up to me and just needed comfort and peace and to tell their story and to see an encouraging face, I realized it was like what Mr. Rogers said, ‘look for the helpers,’ that this identified me as a helper. And so now when I go out there and put it on, I feel much differently about it.”
Defending the stranger is not new for the Church. “The PC(USA) over the years has borne sacred witness to accompanying migrants and standing in solidarity by offering refuge, providing sanctuary, joining advocacy efforts and campaigns with immigrant-led organizations and interfaith coalitions,” says Amanda Craft, IUA’s Manager of Immigration Advocacy. “The PC(USA) and antecedent denominations have been involved in immigration advocacy since the late 1800s, guided by principles of welcome, humanitarian assistance, safety, and God’s invitation to mercy and wholeness practiced in community.”
As the federal Ninth Circuit court permits National Guard deployment to Portland, the work of the Church on the ground continues.
Says Hellman, “We stand with our neighbors and we stand up to hate and cruelty. It’s a moment for us to reclaim faith in in the public square and to say that that this is actually what Jesus’ love was all about.”
David Staniunas is records archivist for the Presbyterian Historical Society.
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