Mosaic Church mulls ICE response

By STEVE BRAWNER

The staff at Little Rock’s Mosaic Church gathered Monday to consider answers to a tough question: How do we respond if Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents come to our church service looking for one or more of our members?

The question is relevant especially now and especially at Mosaic. 

It’s especially relevant now because the Trump administration has enacted a policy allowing ICE officers to arrest undocumented immigrants in churches.

It’s especially relevant at Mosaic because it has 100-150 Hispanic members between its Spanish and mixed services. Church leaders don’t ask about immigration status, but they have no doubt some are undocumented.

Directional Leader Mark DeYmaz started the intentionally multiethnic church in 2001. It very deliberately reaches out to people of all races and ethnicities and has a racially mixed staff. His belief is, if the kingdom of heaven isn’t segregated, then why is the church?

DeYmaz and Senior Pastor Harry Li told me Monday’s training focused on the church’s legal rights and obligations regarding ICE and gave the staff a chance to brainstorm. DeYmaz, Li and one other staff member will be in charge of interacting with the agents. Doing so will include checking to see what kind of warrant the agents have – an ICE warrant or a more expansive judicial warrant from a judge.

DeYmaz said Mosaic will not be a “sanctuary church.” It won’t harbor anyone. It won’t sneak anyone out the back door while ICE agents are at the front.

But it can minister to families. Church activities might be extended to care for children and provide food as ICE agents are outside but before an arrest is made. A notary public might help a member sign power of attorney to a trusted person so they can get their affairs in order.

The church also can provide information to its members before anything might happen. Leaders were planning to distribute a small packet this upcoming Sunday. An immigration attorney will speak at a meeting planned for next Sunday. 

Hispanic pastors Aaron and Pamela Velazquez are serving Mosaic’s Spanish-speaking members after serving as missionaries near Monterrey. That part of northeastern Mexico is populated by gangs, drugs and cartels fighting for territory. They said it’s understandable why families would seek to escape such places and come to America in search of a better life. Many are afraid they will have to return to the places they left.

“In the last two weeks especially, there’s a lot of fear that we perceive in our community – the fear to even leave their houses, the fear to drive, even the fear to go to work,” Aaron told me as Pam interpreted. “That’s the feeling that our people are experiencing right now. Even in a lot of cases, fear to come to church.”

DeYmaz, who describes himself as a risk-taker, says he doesn’t want to overreact. He believes it’s unlikely that agents would raid the church, so he has tried to encourage people not to get ahead of themselves emotionally. He wants the church to be intentional and proactive but not fearful. 

“We don’t want to just go, ‘Oh, it’s not going to happen,’” he said. “And on the other hand, we don’t want to, ‘Oh, my gosh. What’s going to happen?’ and make all kinds of decisions and policy and create problems that don’t even exist. … At some point, everybody’s just got to trust Jesus, and trust what happens and exercise faith in sometimes the toughest moments.”

DeYmaz noted that good Christian people can see the issue differently based on their personality or understanding of scripture. Some would say the nation’s laws aren’t higher than the kingdom’s, so they’ll fight to protect their fellow church members. Others would say if a person came to the United States illegally, there’s not much that can be done.

Mosaic isn’t just a church for people with different skin colors, but different political viewpoints as well. Its members include people who voted for Trump and those who are afraid of being deported. The church will seek to represent Christ to its own members and to any ICE agents who might come to the property.

“Christ is so much higher than which party you belong to,” Li said. “He’s so much higher than any of the things that we label ourselves with here on this earth. And that’s the basis for how we do ministry.”

Steve Brawner is a syndicated columnist published in 18 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.