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As the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration continues, concern over certain cases is growing, specifically for long-term pastors as well as Christian asylum seekers from Iran.
The latest case involves Maryland Pastor Daniel Fuentes Espinal from Honduras. While he is accused of overstaying his visa by 25 years, many in Easton, MD, call him a law-abiding member of the community who deserves fair treatment and the opportunity to remain free.
Residents and supporters recently took to the streets to protest the arrest of the 54-year-old pastor.
ICE agents detained Fuentes Espinal, who pastors at Jesus te Ama Iglesia del Nazareno church, on July 21 on his way to work at a construction site.
Fuentes Espinal has reportedly lived in the U.S. since 2001 after entering the country on a six-month visa. After his arrest, he was transferred from Baltimore to an immigration facility in Louisiana.
Family friend Len Foxwell says Fuentes Espinal told him about conditions he had to endure at the Baltimore facility.
“He didn’t have a bed to sleep on,” Foxwell told CBN News. “He didn’t have a shower. He didn’t have a sink for brushing his teeth. He literally had to use a bucket – and I don’t mean to be graphic for your viewers but he had to use a bucket for bodily functions.”
Pastor Fuentes Espinal’s church members are no longer meeting out of fear that the same thing will happen to them.
Pastor Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, says ICE arrests are severely impacting churches within his network.
“Thirty-five, 40-percent drop in Sunday attendance,” Rodriguez said in an interview with CBN News. “Put this in perspective, close to half of the Latino evangelical church, 40 percent aiming towards 50, this is serious.”
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“It really heartbreaking,” commented Pastor Gabriel Salguero, founder of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition. “I receive, without hyperbole, dozens of texts a day from the pastors in our coalition — daily in receiving texts either from bishops or pastors, of members of their churches or pastors in their networks that are being detained and deported.”
It is a painful reality also felt among some Iranian Christians seeking asylum in the U.S. due to religious persecution back home.
Last month, Pastor Ara Torosian of Cornerstone Church in West Los Angeles witnessed federal agents detaining Iranian-born members of his congregation.
“They came for freedom, and for me was shocking to see this scene that this woman on the floor, and it was just heartbreaking for me as a pastor,” Torosian told CBN News.
Torosian, who was tortured in Iran for helping a Christian group smuggle Bibles, fled to the U.S. in 2005. He became a U.S. citizen in 2015.
To protest the detainment of Iranian asylum seekers and to advocate for their release, Torosian recently went on a hunger strike outside the White House.
Since then, another family from his church in ICE custody has been released.
“Our church was in the tears,” said Torosian. “The mom and dad have ankle monitoring but at least I’m happy that they’re in their home. We rejoice and also, I send this message to different lawmakers, President Trump, ICE and DHS and many others that really helped to this.”
Meanwhile, Salguero released the following statement about Fuentes Espinal’s arrest:
“The detention of an evangelical pastor who is working hard and helping his neighbors is not the way forward on immigration. Pastor Espinal is an example of how someone who has for years tried to navigate the broken system and get legal status and the bureaucracy has failed him. This is exactly the kind of indiscriminate immigration enforcement that is not in keeping with a vow the Administration and its allies made to target violent criminals. Rather, together with the overturning of TPS, the allowing of immigration enforcement in sensitive locations like churches, and the attacks on birthright citizenship, we are seeing a broader pattern that includes moms, dads, workers, and even clergy.”
That sentiment is one that Rodriguez counters.
“I believe President Trump really has a commitment to seeing a solution,” Rodriguez said. “However, there may be elements in the administration who are, for whatever reason in the world, not necessarily implementing what President Trump desires as it pertains to exclusively going after the criminal element.”
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