Thread: Ministries in jeopardy

Web Posted: 02/03/2007 10:52 PM CST

Hernán Rozemberg
Express-News Immigration Writer

Louis Vannatter, pastor of First Baptist Church in Bandera, wanted to attract the area's rapidly growing Hispanic population to his congregation — but being unfamiliar with their language and culture, he didn't think he was right for the job.
So, he tapped Pablo Hernández, a longtime church volunteer and native of Mexico and groomed him to lead the church's new Hispanic ministry program, using a little-known but increasingly popular government program that brings religious workers into the country.

Applicants can become temporary visitors or permanent legal residents through the program, created in 1990 at the behest of religious groups. But a growing reputation for fraud has subjected religious worker applicants to intensified government scrutiny.

Government reports have cited the religious worker program as being one of the most vulnerable to scams because unlike other employment-based visa categories, religious applicants can skip the arduous and lengthy "labor certification" process making employers prove they're offering jobs to immigrants because there were no U.S. takers.

Applicants don't even have to wait for employers — they can apply directly to the government, allowing some to use religious visas to enter the country and then simply slip into society in search of other jobs.

Congress didn't make the program permanent, and lobbying efforts have kept it alive through several extensions. But unless it receives another lifeline, it will end in October 2008.

Religious leaders say such a move would be disastrous for their communities, insisting that without immigrant workers, countless pulpits would be vacant. They say foreign religious workers serve a crucial societal role as informal go-betweens ushering new arrivals toward the American way.

But at least one leading congressman has called for a major overhaul before the program is renewed.

Systemic abuse

Though still a small part of the overall flow of legal immigrants, which tops 1 million yearly, the count of religious workers from abroad has steadily increased since its inception, from 8,992 in 1996 to 22,362 in 2005.

Anecdotes of immigrant visa fraud had existed for decades before the government began documenting it in the 1990s. Though still lacking an established oversight system, investigators now believe they can prove systemic abuse.

In a 2002 report examining all types of visa fraud, the Government Accountability Office, the congressional watchdog agency, warned that immigration officials "believe that some aliens are using the benefit application process to enable them to carry out illegal activities, such as crimes of violence, narcotics trafficking and terrorism."

In the religious worker program, fraud cases typically involve people brought in by leaders of small storefront churches. In more blatant examples of abuse, religious workers are brought in by fake or "paper churches."

In a July report, the government agency in charge of immigration applications, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, determined 72 of 220, or one-third, of religious worker petitions examined in a six-month period were fraudulent.

One example involved a 33-year-old man who could not be found — and neither could his sponsoring religious organization, which listed its address as an apartment. It was the same address listed by another person linked to "terrorist groups," the report found. Redacted before being released, it did not identify the man, the city or the groups.

The government has pledged to conduct more background checks on applicants as well as more church inspections. An option giving applicants a chance for a quick decision — within 15 days, for a $1,000 fee — has been scrapped.

Arrests stemming from recent investigations have made headlines. Muhammad Khalil, an imam, or Muslim religious leader, was convicted in 2004 for single-handedly bringing more than 200 fake religious workers to New York City, charging fees netting more than $600,000. And last November, 33 other imams, mostly Pakistanis, were arrested in a national sweep of religious visa scammers.

"We've known for some time that there was fraud in the program, but recent assessments have shown we've got to take more steps to ensure fraud doesn't continue to run rampant," said María García-Upson, spokeswoman for CIS in Dallas.

She did not know what further steps, if any, might be taken to cut down on the schemes, such as possibly making religious worker applicants go through labor certification.

Even that requirement may not be enough to ensure the program stops posing a national security threat, said U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, who had raised the issue of religious visa problems during hearings he called in 2000 as chairman of the House immigration subcommittee.

Smith worries proposed changes to the immigration system, such as a plan to bring in temporary foreign workers, would make already high fraud levels worse.

"If we can't even police a smaller visa program like the religious worker visa for fraud, then how can we expect to police a massive guest worker program?" he asked.

Unfairly punished

Leading religious organizations advocating for immigrant religious workers said they don't have a problem with the government ensuring applicants and their sponsors are legitimate. Their fear is that good people doing good work will be unfairly punished.

Foreign priests not only fill a critical role for Catholics, they also help strengthen social bonds in their communities, said Kevin Appleby, director of migration and refugee policy for the Washington-based U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, a national Jewish organization, argued dismantling the program would go against national interests. The society, headquartered in New York City, helps immigrants fill positions such as religion school teachers and kosher certifiers — many with cultural skills nearly impossible to find domestically, said Melanie Nezer, its migration policy counsel.

"This is about religious freedom, a core issue to our American values," Nezer said. "Faiths should be able to choose who they want working for them."

Some veteran program participants said they were unaware of religious impostors. God will reward honest workers while punishing others who lie and deceive, they said.

Hernández, pastor of Templo Camino Nuevo — "New Path Temple" — a mission soon to become independent from First Baptist Church in Bandera, said he would rather be forced to start over at home than risk being in the country illegally.

"Only God knows if I'll go or if I'll stay," said Hernández, 42, who is originally from Toluca, Mexico, and still on a temporary religious visa while applying for permanent residency.

"But it would hurt me to see this country close the door to religious workers from abroad, because clearly there's a need for us here."

To his flock, which he readily admits probably includes undocumented migrants, though he never asks their legal status, he preaches not only religion, but also civics. Work hard, he tells them, abide by the laws of the country and pick up the local culture — starting with learning English.

"The Hispanic community is going to be a majority soon in Texas," said Vannatter, the pastor who brought in Hernández. "We're having to find new and better ways to reach out to them, and Pablo has done a tremendous job for us."

Michil About Ghanam, an Arabic Christian from Syria who's on a religious visa as a bible study teacher at St. George Maronite Catholic Church in San Antonio, said it's important for immigrants to keep their traditions alive.

But it's just as necessary for them to know, understand and respect their adopted home, he said.

If people wonder whether foreign religious workers want to become Americanized, he said, they need look no further than him.

"I'm sorry, I'd love to keep talking to you, but it's going to have to be tomorrow," he said during a recent interview. Tickets in hand, there was no way he'd miss seeing his beloved Spurs play at home

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/ ... fce88.html

Hernández, 42, who is originally from Toluca, Mexico, and still on a temporary religious visa

To his flock, which he readily admits probably includes undocumented migrants, though he never asks their legal status, he preaches not only religion, but also civics. Work hard, he tells them, abide by the laws of the country and pick up the local culture — starting with learning English.

"The Hispanic community is going to be a majority soon in Texas,"

So why didn't Hernandez, 42, with a temporary religious visa from Mexico, preach to his fellow Mexicans while they were still in Mexico, about civics, abiding by US laws, assimilating into our culture & learning English, instead of waiting till illegals got here? I don't believe a word he says. I think the motive is wait till Mexicans are close to being a majority to help speed up the reconquistra. They have no interest in being part of our communities, they want their own communities here in the US (which they believe is part of the united states of Mexico) with Mexican law, culture and Spanish.