{"id":7006,"date":"2014-04-10T18:05:11","date_gmt":"2014-04-11T01:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=7006"},"modified":"2014-04-10T18:07:29","modified_gmt":"2014-04-11T01:07:29","slug":"united-methodist-message-suspend-deportations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/united-methodist-message-suspend-deportations\/","title":{"rendered":"United Methodist message: \u2018Suspend deportations\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rev. Esdra Seda, pastor and Hispanic Ministries Coordinator in the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual (regional) Conference, introduces Pilar Molina, whose husband has been detained since January. She later spoke during a prayer vigil at Haws Avenue United Methodist Church, Norristown, Penn. Photo by John Coleman.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

By Kathy L. Gilbert | UMNS | Nashville, Tenn.<\/h4>\n

During the weekend of April 5-6, many prayers were said for immigrant families torn apart by deportations and those praying are hoping President Barack Obama is listening.<\/span><\/p>\n

United Methodists joined with other faith groups and the\u00a0National Day Laborer Organizing Network<\/a>\u00a0in a weekend of action to ask for temporary suspension of deportations, which will soon reach 2 million.<\/p>\n

Three other denominations \u2014 Episcopal, Catholic and Assemblies of God \u2014\u00a0joined with United Methodists in a \u201ckind of radical action for a little, very conservative area\u201d near\u00a0Safford, Arizona, for a rally and prayer vigil<\/a>\u00a0said the Rev. Sherry Brady, organizer, and pastor of First United Methodist Church.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn’t meant to be a divisive rally. We’re just sending a message:’There’s something you can do now, Mr. President: Extend Deferred Action and suspend deportation.’ Let indifference end here and now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Those gathered heard stories about women such as Leydi, whose husband was deported and whose family has spiraled into homelessness; and Claudia, who was arrested when she called for help when her husband was attacking her and who is fighting to stay in the United States with her three young children.<\/p>\n

In Norristown, Pa.,\u00a0Pilar Molina<\/a>\u00a0has made the pain of deportations personal for United Methodists, including Bishop Peggy Johnson who led a prayer vigil at\u00a0Haws Avenue United Methodist Church April 6.<\/a><\/p>\n

In January, Molina\u2019s husband, Israel Resendiz Hernandez, 34, a construction contractor, was arrested by immigration agents in Norristown. Imprisoned in a county jail, he faces deportation on charges of repeatedly crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, including a trip for his father’s funeral last fall.<\/p>\n

Molina was\u00a0at the prayer vigils and told those gathered she remembered how hard it was to grow up without a father. Her two daughters, Caitlin, 9, and Ariana, 3, are asking their mother each day when their father will come home, she said.<\/p>\n

Molina met a group of United Methodists, including Los Angeles Area Bishop Minerva Carca\u00f1o, in Washington on\u00a0Presidents Day, Feb. 17<\/a>, when the United Methodist Board of Church and Society and other groups led a prayerful protest in front of the White House. Many participants, including Carca\u00f1o and Iowa Area Bishop Julius Trimble, were arrested.\u00a0Chicago Area Bishop Sally Dyck<\/a>\u00a0and more United Methodists were arrested at a protest in that city on March 27.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are just a few of almost two million stories that illustrate the tragic consequences of the policy of mass deportations. While the Administration claims that deportations are only being carried out against those deemed \u2018threats to society,\u2019 these stories clearly show that is not the case. There are many, many more stories as well,\u201d said\u00a0Bill Mefford, executive with the United Methodist Board of Church and Society.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mefford is collecting stories from churches that participated in the weekend of action to present to President Obama (These stories can be sent to Mefford at\u00a0bmefford@umc-gbcs.org<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\n

*Gilbert is a multimedia reporter for United Methodist News Service. Contact her at (615)742-5470 or\u00a0newsdesk@umcom.org.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rev. Esdra Seda, pastor and Hispanic Ministries Coordinator in the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual (regional) Conference, introduces Pilar Molina, whose husband has been detained since January. She later spoke during a prayer vigil at Haws Avenue United Methodist Church, Norristown, Penn. Photo by John Coleman. By Kathy L. Gilbert | UMNS | Nashville, Tenn. During […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":7007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[246,157,32,3],"tags":[360,22,359,358,31],"class_list":{"0":"post-7006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ethnic-ministries","8":"category-immigration","9":"category-news","10":"category-umns","11":"tag-not1more","12":"tag-bishops","13":"tag-california-pacific-conference","14":"tag-immigration-reform","15":"tag-umns"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/pilar-molina-and-edras-seda-585x388.jpg?fit=585%2C388&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-1P0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7006"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7010,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7006\/revisions\/7010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}