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Religious leaders say obligation to help trumps immigration laws
BY CINDY GONZALEZ
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER


SCHUYLER, Neb. - The Rev. Rudy De Leon got a surprise visit at his home last month from federal agents who warned him about harboring illegal immigrants.

The Rev. Rudy De Leon of Schuyler, Neb., said federal agents kicked in this door in his home during a search for illegal immigrants. De Leon said he will continue to rent rooms to people regardless of their legal status.The next day, agents stopped the Pentecostal preacher's church-bound van and demanded proof of legal residency from everyone inside. Two passengers who couldn't produce any were arrested.

Fear for others in his 150-family church led De Leon to briefly close Dios es Amor, God Is Love. But he said he has reopened with an even stronger resolve to aid the downtrodden - regardless of their legal status.

"I have to continue what the Lord says: Help the people in need," said De Leon, who has lived legally in Schuyler for nine years.

The Guatemala-born minister is among the religious leaders stepping beyond traditional spiritual roles to resist the federal government's latest enforcement tactic, which sends immigration agents to homes as well as work sites.

De Leon, 42, said he won't start requiring legal documentation of newcomers seeking to rent rooms at his house. He has, however, started giving immigrants fliers outlining their rights.

And he told his story to Hispanic leaders, who continue to talk about law enforcement stops and searches on local Spanish radio.

To be sure, not all clergy or community leaders have joined the outcry. The mayor and police chief in Schuyler supported the four-day Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation that resulted in the arrest of 20 illegal immigrants.

Said Mayor David Reinecke: "I'm not going to tell the federal government, 'You can't come here and do the job you are supposed to do.'"

He said he appreciates the contributions of immigrants, but he agreed with the police chief's decision to lend assistance to visiting immigration agents. "That's a no-brainer," Reinecke said.

Clergy who criticize the federal bureau's more aggressive enforcement tactics said Judeo-Christian principles trump immigration laws.

They are working with national religious groups in a push for Congress to revise laws that would let many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country stay.

Meanwhile, resistance to current policies has surfaced in various ways.

In Seattle, for example, an Episcopal official and a Catholic bishop threatened to offer sanctuary, or refuge, to undocumented families if the government continues to raid workplaces without reforming immigration policy.

In Grand Island, a group of ministers is mobilizing Hispanics politically.

The interdenominational coalition was formed after the December raid of a Swift meatpacking plant netted 261 undocumented workers. The raid also led to a community forum where Catholic Bishop William Dendinger of Grand Island offered support to affected families.

In south Omaha, the Rev. Carl Zoucha used the Sunday bulletin to alert churchgoers that federal agents had gone to a parish leader's house to arrest and deport him.

The father of six at the home had been under a court order to leave. Agents later tracked down the man's wife and a daughter. "I don't know if this is the start of a series of raids," Zoucha wrote.

A few weeks earlier, Zoucha, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Agnes Churches, was part of an interfaith group that publicly called for a moratorium on immigration raids and reform of immigration laws. Among the event's speakers was the Rev. Joe Burnett, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska, and a representative of the United Methodist Church.

Zoucha said he and other clergy recognize the country's right and need to protect its borders and interests.

"On the other hand, through God's word, anyone that has more than what they really need is called to share with others. Jesus teaches us to welcome the stranger."

Maria Teresa Gaston, director of the Center for Service and Justice at Creighton University, said the concept of civil disobedience among men and women of the cloth goes back decades.

Clergy often lead peaceful protests against war and nuclear arms at the Strategic Command headquarters in Bellevue. Civil disobedience also played a part in ending legal segregation in the United States and in protesting the Vietnam War.

The sanctuary option raised by Seattle clergy would be akin to a movement in the 1980s in which churches provided refuge to Central Americans fleeing war and seeking asylum in the United States.

"There have been different times in history that the church needed to stand up prophetically," Gaston said.

She said Creighton students will participate in a Good Friday prayer walk sponsored by the Omaha Catholic Archdiocese that will highlight the plight of illegal immigrants.

The archdiocese also is spearheading a campaign to educate churchgoers in its 23-county service area about social teachings related to immigrants.

Luis Lucar, a Peruvian immigrant and Schuyler businessman, said the federal agents' movement into neighborhoods also upset many Colfax County families who are in the country legally.

Eulogio Olivo-Rivera, director of the Grand Island area's Catholic Hispanic Ministry office, said the matter has become personal because many deported immigrants have friends and ties to their communities.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Tim Counts said the Omaha-based fugitive operations unit, which became fully staffed this year, targets homes of occupants who have defied deportation orders.

But if the agents encounter other illegal immigrants along the way, he said, they'd most likely arrest them, too, he said.

"We have the authority to arrest anyone who is in the country illegally at any location at any time," Counts said.

Of the 20 arrests in the Schuyler and Columbus area, three were known "absconders" who had ignored a court order to leave, Counts said. The rest came to the team's attention and were detained for being in the country illegally.

Two weeks later, the same unit arrested 23 illegal immigrants in Grand Island, Hastings and Lexington. Ten had defied deportation orders.

Since October, Counts said, fugitive operations teams in Nebraska's five-state region - which also includes Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota - have arrested about 500 illegal immigrants.

De Leon said he felt harassed by the Feb. 7 search of his house, which left a doorway broken, and the Feb. 8 traffic stop.

Schuyler Police Chief Lennie Hiltner said two local officers initially went to the pastor's home on another matter: to look for a woman who failed to appear in county court because of a traffic violation.

Immigration agents were summoned later to interpret, the chief said.

While the woman was never found, Counts said, some undocumented immigrants were inside. He did not know why none was arrested.

The next day, different agents on the same federal team stopped De Leon's van, Counts said, because they thought someone inside matched the description of a fugitive they were seeking.

None turned out to be the fugitive, Counts said. Two passengers were detained because they were in the country illegally.

De Leon said anxiety swept his congregation initially, but worship and song have resumed in the church off Highway 30 that Spanish-speaking families built from scratch.

The soft-spoken minister said he respects local officials, but answers first to a higher authority, the Lord.

"I must keep my commitment to help," he said.