‘Go forth as witnesses’: Spokane faith leaders gather community to instruct about ICE, pray for Minneapolis

Shirley Grossman erupted in tears as she stood in the middle of The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist on Friday, recalling how her mother fled Russia in the 1920s to find a better life in the United States.

“I am the child of an immigrant,” she said. “My mother always carried a sense of gratitude for the America that welcomed us.”

But America, Grossman said, is no longer the immigrant-accepting, empathetic country her mother was grateful for. Now 83 years old, Grossman said America feels dangerous, exclusionary and power hungry, especially when the government is detaining people who are legally allowed to seek refuge .

Just this month, federal agents detained an immigrant in Spokane who holds a legal work permit, has a social security number and an active asylum case. Agents also detained his 10-year-old daughter, a Spokane Public Schools student, and shipped both to a detainment center in Texas, The Spokesman-Review reported.

“I am filled with horror now about what is happening to our country,” Grossman said as she repeatedly apologized for crying. “It is against everything we stand for.”

Grossman is one of many who attended a quietly organized church vigil at St. John’s on Friday afternoon. While Grossman is Jewish, the pews accompanied many other faiths, including Christians and even some atheists. Though different in beliefs, they joined hands to pray or reflect in an unusual example of unity: all were there to hear words of hope and comfort, to pray or hope for the people in Minneapolis who are facing off with federal agents over the shooting of a 37-year-old mother, to denounce violence and accept love – and to receive detailed instructions on how to protect themselves, their neighbors and Spokane’s immigrant community from being pulled from their families .

“For many of us, it is more comfortable to not show up and stay silent,” said Gretchen Rehberg, the ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane. “But we are at a point where we cannot do that anymore.”

In unison, those seated in the pews took a pledge . It was a pledge to stay at a safe distance from agents, to exercise their rights to record, password-protect their phones and to document names, addresses and instances of physical force. But most of all, it was a pledge to keep immigrant neighbors out of the federal eye.

“Friends, you need to know that in the United States, everyone has certain constitutional rights and protections, regardless of immigration status or who is president,” said United Church of Christ Pastor Andy CastroLang. “Do you understand? You go forth as witnesses. Not bystanders, not onlookers – as witnesses.”

This week marks the third week of escalating tensions in Minneapolis after a federal agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good while inside her SUV. Children as young as 5 have been detained and sent to detention centers, protesters have been pepper-sprayed, and Minnesota Democratic leaders were placed under investigation by the Trump Administration over their statements criticizing the actions of ICE agents. Agents have also been detaining immigrants currently going through a legal asylum process. Others have been U.S. citizens, according to a report by ProPublica.

“We need sensible, good immigration laws that permit people to come, because they will,” Grossman told The Spokesman-Review. “They would rather be here legally. But if you have to escape a country, what my own mother did, I don’t blame those people. I blame the government for a poor immigration system.”

Churchgoers and speakers also prayed for the faith leaders in Washington who felt compelled to leave the state and head to Minneapolis to pray there. About 16 faith leaders from the state arrived in Minnesota this month, according to CastroLang. Hundreds of other pastors also arrived in the state, but were arrested on Friday while they prayed outside of the Minneapolis Airport, according to reporting from CBS News.

“Christians are used to doing nonviolent acts that they get arrested for,” the Rev. Jim CastroLang said. “So some of these faith leaders that went were actually scared, you know, but they went anyway.”

Minnesota community members have been donating and delivering food to immigrants who fear being unlawfully targeted by agents if they were to leave their homes. That, and the quiet get-togethers and events to educate non-immigrants about ICE, reminds Grossman of another poignant time in history – early 1940’s Germany, when non-Jewish people would bring Jewish people food while in hiding or secretly meet to discuss helping Jews escape from occupied Europe to neighboring countries like the Netherlands.

“Things started there like they are starting here now, and Germany became what it became,” she said. “That is why we must be on guard.”

A message brought up Friday by Jim CastroLang centered around how those who are strong in their faith of Jesus Christ must act in a similar way. Jesus would have never turned from an immigrant in need of help, he said, remembering the very notable Bible verse from Leviticus: “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.”

He and Andy, his wife, said the reason they organized the Friday vigil was because they feel Christians and other followers of Jesus have a responsibility to push back against injustices. The two draw a hard line when it comes to Christians who support the Trump Administration’s methods.

“They’re weaponizing the Bible instead of using it as a resource,” Jim CastroLang said. “It is very difficult to judge other people’s faith, but they say that God wants these people to be thrown out of the country. In the Bible they read, (it doesn’t) talk about countries and boundaries and being a U.S. citizen. It talks about welcoming the stranger.”

After the vigil, the groups of people poured out onto Grand Boulevard to peacefully wave signs and wave to cars that honked at them in support as they drove by. Many of the signs mentioned emulating the spirit of Jesus Christ and his love, not exclusion.

“We learn to create our image in the likeness of God,” Jim CastroLang said. “What happens too often is that we create God in our image instead.”