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“We are called to act because of our baptismal covenant,” said the Rev. Mark Holland, rector of All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Morristown. All Saints’ is the Episcopal presence working with Episcopal churches across the Diocese of East Tennessee in concert with St. Patrick’s Catholic Church supporting and helping families impacted by the April 5 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid in Bean Station, Tenn. The raid was the largest single workplace raid in a decade.
Last Thursday, April 5, Holland and his friend, Rev. Patrick Brownell of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Morristown, were having lunch together when Brownell received a call from a worried parish administrator. He was told there had been an ICE raid at the meat packing plant in Bean Station. Many Hispanic immigrants were employed at the plant. St. Patrick’s has a significant Hispanic congregation and the church was getting calls. Brownell left the restaurant immediately. Holland was ready to help.
Brownell learned that the ICE detainees were being held at the Armory in Russellville. Brownell, who is also a reserve Army chaplain, donned his uniform and went to the Armory, where he learned about 100 people had been detained (Recent news reports set the number of detainees at 97).
All Saint’s Deacon Sarai Wender said news of the raid “lit up social media; it lit up their cell phones,” everybody knew about it.
Brownell returned to his church, not knowing what might be coming that evening. People were terrified; they were afraid to drive. He’d heard that parents were afraid to pick up their kids from school. The church set-up cots, anticipating that people might be afraid to go home – afraid of being arrested at home, and would need a place to sleep.
Holland and All Saints’ were in touch with St. Patrick’s about how they could help. Holland said, “It turned out nobody stayed the night, but a bunch of teenagers hung out at the church.” Holland brought a gift from the discretionary fund to help with food and also purchased a bunch of power strips so all those kids could charge their phones.
On Friday, April 6, there were about 500 Hispanic kids out of school.
St. Patrick’s quickly became the center for gathering and dispersing emotional and material help in the community. On Saturday, April 7, people started coming to the church. Holland said that on Saturday morning St. Patrick's was so packed they had to have people directing traffic.
“There were hundreds of people at the church mostly focused on setting up legal power of attorney,” Holland said. If one or both parents of children who are American citizens are deported and there is nobody with legal authority to take custody of the children, then the kids are picked up and put in foster care. That means the children are basically lost to their family. “So a power of attorney was the number one priority,” said Holland. “And some of those families have children who are already gone – they’ve evaporated. They get on the phone, they text, they find a relative wherever they’re going to relocate – maybe they’re in St. Louis, or maybe Seattle – they’re gone.”
Brownell asked members of the wider community to attend the Hispanic Sunday evening service on April 8 in a visible show of support for neighbors impacted by the raid. Holland put out the word to Episcopal churches, along with a call for monetary gifts.
The response to the request for support exceeded all expectations. “Normally, there are about 70-80 people at that service,” Holland said. “Sunday evening there were 700. A lot of Hispanics from a five-county area showed up. About 30 folks from All Saints and five Episcopal clergy were there,” he said.
On April 9, the Rt. Rev. Brian Cole, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee, visited All Saints’ and St. Patrick’s. Cole said, “On December 2, at Church of the Ascension, as a part of my ordination vows as a bishop, I was asked if I would 'be merciful to all, show compassion to the poor and strangers, and defend those who have no helper?' For the sake of Jesus, I promised I would.
“Since then, I have often wondered what it meant to defend those who have no help. On Monday, while visiting the Parish Center at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Morristown, I realized I, along with Fr. Mark and Deacon Sarai, were meeting many people who had no help. This is a clarifying time for us as Episcopalians to help those who have no help. When we baptize, we invite all present to respect the dignity of every living person. Again, when a portion of the community in East Tennessee is frightened and targeted, we need to offer a different way of what it means to live together, to see in each other's face the face of Jesus.”
The Bristol Herald Courier reported April 13 that Alex Waraksa, a priest with St. Patrick's, who has known many of the families affected for eight years, said “They’re very sad. A lot of them are afraid. They’re waiting to see if they’re going to be reunited, trying to see what are their rights, what’s the process. Some were released, and some were detained so there’s a misunderstanding of why and what categories they fell into for that,” he said.
“All Saints’ is still working out its next steps,” Holland said. But parishioners are doing what they can. “One All Saints’ parishioner is a lawyer. He and his wife have spent hours helping and working with people on legal power of attorneys.”
Another big concern is lack of income. Most of the people affected by the raid worked hourly labor jobs – and a lot of them got paid weekly. If they don’t work, they don’t get paid, so families are left without income. They can’t put gas in the car, and they can’t put food on the table.
All Saints’ is grateful to be able to help, grateful for all the gifts that continue to come in. “We’ve received more than $5,000 in gifts so far,” Holland said.
Holland said the plan is to take the gifts and convert them to something easy like Walmart gift cards. All Saints’ will work with Brownell and his parish administrator and let them figure out the priority on how they want to disperse the cards.
“As individual gifts and parish gifts come in,” said Holland, “we’ll buy gift cards in $50 increments and give them to St. Patrick’s. The cards can be used for anything – gas, groceries, hygiene items – for whatever the needs are. It empowers them to make a decision on what’s their priority. We’ve got a stack of checks to convert into cards – that will be over 100 $50 cards,” Holland said.
Holland said, “I’m touching base with St. Patrick’s every couple days to see what we can do and how we can help.” Despite the huge impact to the community, “we’ll find a new equilibrium,” he said.
Holland and Wender commented on disheartening and mean-spirited social media responses. “We’ve seen lashing out with spite and racism,” Holland said. “It makes me wonder how many feel that way.” He said you can’t let fear keep you from doing what is right. “I think the majority of the people don’t feel that way and the majority of the people have a heart. We can’t let fear stop us,” he said.
“Regardless of what you feel about whether workers are documented or undocumented, there’s a real compassion issue,” Holland said. “When families are ripped apart, when children are hurt, you can’t just stand by and turn a blind eye to it.”
“I get it,” Holland said in his Sunday homily. “I understand what the law says, but just because it’s legal doesn’t make it right. It was legal to buy and sell human beings in this country at one time. It was legal to confiscate the homes and businesses of Asian Americans during World War II, and it was legal to displace Native American people and place them on the Trail of Tears from Tennessee to Oklahoma. It doesn’t make it right.”
Fortunately, Holland and All Saints’ haven’t had people respond to them in a mean-spirited way. “But in Morristown," he said, "All Saints’ is ‘that’ church. This is a place where people know gay people can come to church. This is a place where people know we care about our neighbors. This is a place where people know we feed the homeless." He said, "I don’t spend any time or effort trying to change people’s minds – you can’t. You can only change how you react to them. My faith compels me to help people who are hurting,” Holland said.
“One of the things I remind people of is this – if you have to choose between right doctrine and dogma and right relationships, choose right relationships, because we’ve had a long history of being wrong,” he said.
Churches across the community have come together to support their immigrant neighbors. The Bristol Herald Courier reported April 12 that in a Peace Walk held in Morristown, “Hundreds of people, dressed in white and carrying white flowers, walked from First Presbyterian Church to First United Methodist Church to show support for residents affected by the large ICE raid that took place last week.”
“We’re called to act by our baptismal covenant," Holland said. "What does it mean to respect the dignity of every human being? What does it mean to seek out Christ in all persons and love your neighbor as yourself? It really puts your faith to the test and that’s not a bad thing."
Holland said he was grateful Bishop Cole could come to Morristown and see the situation firsthand.
“We are called ‘to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ,’” Cole said. “That is an image of hope, of wholeness, of redeemed community. In an age when too much public rhetoric demonizes and disregards the other and the stranger, our work of restoration and reconciliation is not optional. We are in the work of saving lives and keeping communities whole.”
About half of the people detained in the raid are still detained and some are detained on release. If you would like to contribute a gift to help our immigrant neighbors, designate your gift “Immigrant Emergency” and send your check to All Saints, 601 W Main St., Morristown, TN 37814.
