CHICAGO (WLS) — Donald Trump has yet to assume the presidency, but concerns about his potential actions on his first day in office have prompted a small yet politically active Pilsen church to transition to virtual services, beginning with Christmas services last week.
It is a promise President-elect Trump made over and over while on the campaign trail.
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“On day one, I will launch the largest deportations of criminal program in American History,” he said.
The church’s decision to move its Spanish-language services online stems from the pledge to deport over 11 million undocumented individuals in the country, a policy that has caused apprehension among the community.
“I am concerned that during our worship services, immigration agents could arrive and initiate deportations,” explained Pastor Emma Lozano of Lincoln United Methodist Church.
For a long time now, it’s been U.S policy to bar immigration officials from making arrests inside schools, hospitals and churches.
It is that policy that launched the small Pilsen church into the national spotlight in 2006, when it gave sanctuary to Elvira Arellano, an immigrant living in the U.S. without legal permission with a deportation order against her.
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It is that spotlight that makes Lozano fearful of what may happen if that policy is, as has been widely speculated, removed once Trump takes office.
“We’re going to worship together but apart. And we’re going to keep the faith and the hope. It was just very sad,” Lozano said.
Nearly half the congregation is living in the U.S. without legal permission.
Doris Aguirre has been a regular for over 20 years.
Her family, like so many, is mixed. While she and her son do not have legal permission to live in the U.S., her daughters and husband are U.S. citizens.
“It was very strange to have Christmas services at home,” Aguirre said in Spanish. “To not be in church, like we usually are, sharing bread or hot chocolate, it was very sad.”
How long will the virtual services continue? Four years, after all, is a very long time.
“We’re going to go virtual until we can feel safe. I have to have hope and faith,” Lozano said.
It’s not just the religious services that are going virtual. This church offers its parishioners legal aid following each week’s Spanish-language service. That too will be moving online for the foreseeable future.
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