UCC churches and faith communities join in protest of political prisoner

Members of Washington, D.C. area United Church of Christ congregations joined with other faith communities in a prayer vigil near the White House April 14 in support of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant and Maryland resident who was unjustly arrested and sent to CECOT, El Salvador’s brutal maximum-security prison. The Trump administration has since acknowledged in court that it was the result of an “administrative error.”

The vigil was organized by Rev. Michael Vanacore, pastor of Pilgrim UCC in Wheaton, MD, as well as Rev. Laura Martin, associate pastor of Rock Spring UCC, and held as President Trump was meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office. Shortly after the vigil ended, Bukele announced he would not return Abrego Garcia to the United States. The  U.S. Supreme Court had previously backed a lower-court order that instructed the Trump administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release. As of this writing, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers are continuing to press their case in the federal courts.

Speaking at the start of Holy Week, Vanacore drew parallels between Abrego Garcia’s arrest and Christ’s journey from Palm Sunday to Good Friday. “Jesus,” he said, was also “an innocent man, who was tried and punished unjustly.”  Noting that his wife and parents were immigrants to the United States, Vanacore said, “It could have been me.”

Joelle Novey recalled the Exodus story as her faith tradition celebrated Passover the same week. “So what’s top of mind for me this morning,” she said, “is that we don’t have to wonder what happens when arrogant tyrants seize human beings, hold them in bondage, and refuse to let them go. Let me remind you how this [Exodus] story ends every time. The plagues don’t just come down on Pharoah, but on everyone in the sick society that enables this terrible wrong. The water turns to blood for Pharoah and also for everyone who stood aside and said, ‘I don’t look like an Israelite, so that could never happen to me.”

Novey, who prays with several Washington area Jewish congregations, concluded:  The plagues “will come for all of us too, every one, who stands back and stays quiet and enables the tyrants right here in Washington, D.C., who are now just straight-up spitting in the face of God and seeing what we do about it.”

Vanacore and Novey joined in reading Psalm 91 in English and in Spanish. Prayers and songs were also led by the Rev. Laura Martin, associate pastor of Rock Spring UCC in Arlington, Virginia, the Rev. Ellen Jennings, pastor of Cleveland Park UCC in Washington, D.C., and other faith leaders. The vigil was co-sponsored by the Congregation Action Network and CASA, local immigration advocacy and support organizations.

Abrego Garcia is married to an American citizen, and has never been charged with a crime. He has consistently denied that he had any connection to El Salvador’s MS-13 criminal gang.

Members of Abrego Garcia’s family also attended the vigil. Afterward, his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said in a statement: “Today I felt the overwhelming love, embrace, and support from my community. As we start Holy Week, a time meant for celebration and unity, my heart aches for my husband, who should be sitting at our Easter table, leading us in prayer, as he has for so many years. Instead, I find myself still praying for his safety and return home. My heart is heavy, but I hold on to hope and the strength of those around me.”

Sara Fitzgerald is a member of Rock Spring UCC of Arlington, Virginia and a board member of the UCC Media Justice Ministry. 

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