Maria, a pseudonym, has a difficult decision to make in September 2025, when her legal documents that allow her to live in the United States expire.
She could stay in the U.S., risking deportation and living under the radar, so that her young teenage daughter, a U.S. citizen, can continue living in this country. Or after living in the U.S. for 16 years, she could move back to Venezuela, a country embroiled in humanitarian and political crises so severe that 7.7 million people have fled.
Maria came to Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) East Coast immigration attorney Rachel Diaz to see if she has any other options to remain legally after her Temporary Protected Status (TPS) expires.
Like other immigrants, Maria’s fear and concerns about living in the U.S. without documentation have spiked since President Donald J. Trump instructed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to apprehend 1,000 to 1,200 immigrants daily.
Diaz explained to Maria that she had no legal options to stay, despite having a clean criminal record, unless Trump extends TPS for Venezuelans. Diaz advised her to make sure she has a family preparedness plan so that her daughter would be taken care of in case Maria gets deported.
For Maria, such a plan includes:
- Finding a trusted person to care for her daughter;
- Signing state forms giving that trusted person permission to care for her daughter temporarily, including getting medical treatment;
- Having a valid passport for her daughter so she can fly to Venezuela.
“I have girls too,” Diaz says. “And here I’m telling this mom that I know has been working to give her daughter a good life—she’s a good woman—that there’s nothing, no legal recourse for them at this point. So, that was tough to say.”
Calls to MCC’s immigration staff have increased as immigrants witness enforcement happening on the news and in the streets, with and without a warrant.
Immigrants are asking MCC staff for ways to get documentation so they can stay in the country. They also want to know how to protect their children and their assets in case they are deported. Pastors are inquiring about what to do if ICE agents come to their churches.
MCC’s immigration staff, especially in California and Florida, respond by meeting with clients and meeting with groups in churches and schools.
And they listen.
“Sometimes I spend a good 20 minutes with people on the phone trying to listen to their situation, trying to calm them down,” says Crystal Fernandez-Benites, an immigration legal case worker for West Coast MCC.
Sometimes there is no legal option, she says, “but you know, the accompaniment, the having someone, an organization where they can trust and go for guidance, I think that’s very important.”
Staff across the country are giving increasing numbers of Know Your Rights presentations in churches, schools and the community. In these presentations, participants learn practical steps to take if they are apprehended and how to exercise their constitutional rights.
One woman who attended a training in California has been very distressed by the increased ICE activity.
“I go out feeling afraid,” she says. “I only go out for the essentials, and I ask God to protect me. For me, this (training) was good because we need to be prepared and know our rights.”
She now has an appointment with MCC to start the immigration process.
Fernandez-Benites says the primary concern she hears from those attending the training is about their children.
“These are people who have been in the community for a very, very long time,” Fernandez-Benites says. “They have lives made here, and they have kids who were born here, and they are minors.”
One pastor, who hosted a West Coast MCC training for her congregation of immigrants, says she and her husband, also a pastor, have been asked by at least three families to be their children’s temporary guardians.
“They are concerned, and as they say, ‘Who else can we trust? We don’t have any relatives here.’ And if they do, they are in another state, and most of them are undocumented too,” the pastor says. She and her husband agree to support them “because my thinking is that the church is here to help.”
A Brethren in Christ (BIC) bishop contacted Dina González-Piña, executive director of West Coast MCC, asking for information the denomination could use to prepare guidance for leaders of BIC schools and churches. The concern was particularly urgent because President Trump removed restrictions that had prevented ICE agents from apprehending immigrants in schools, hospitals and churches. González-Piña and Fernandez-Benites compiled the most recent guidance from the National Immigration Law Center to give to the pastor.
In Florida, Jorge Vielman, a South Florida program coordinator for MCC East Coast, says some pastors have taken his advice to use Zoom or hold cell group meetings in homes so people without documents don’t feel compelled to congregate in the main church building. However, in Vielman’s experience ICE has been more likely to wait outside the church to apprehend someone.
“One thing that is very important is to be a friend,” says Diaz, the East Coast attorney. “We need to help this person. We need to comfort, and we need to pray. We need to pray for the person, we need to pray for their family and for God to give them wisdom for next steps, and we need to pray for salvation. As difficult as this time is for so many people, what an opportunity for all to know that Jesus is Savior.”
By Linda Espenshade, MCC U.S. news coordinator
Resources and suggestions from MCC
MCC staff across the country are giving increasing numbers of Know Your Rights presentations in churches, schools and the community. In these presentations, immigrants learn practical steps to take if they are apprehended and how to exercise their constitutional rights. They include:
- Exercise your right to stay silent.
- Don’t sign anything except an agreement with your own attorney.
- Carry copies of your immigration documents with you.
- Don’t open the door unless the ICE agent shows you a warrant signed by a judge with the specific name and address of someone living in your house.
- Memorize a phone number to call from detention. (Don’t rely on your cell phone.)
On Feb. 12, the MCC Immigration Network offered a webinar for people who want to support immigrants. MCC East Coast immigration attorney Rachel Diaz suggested the following practical ideas:
- Provide transportation to immigrants without a driver’s license.
- Accompany people to government offices.
- Help people to understand and complete paperwork and keep it secure.
- Consider accepting parental rights temporarily if an immigrant asks.
- Give immigrants information about their rights.
For more resources for immigrants and those who want to help them, go to mcc.org/support-immigrant-neighbors.
Mennonite Central Committee is a global, nonprofit organization that strives to share God’s love and compassion for all through relief, development and peace. MCC is committed to relationships with their local partners and churches. As an Anabaptist organization, they strive to make peace a part of everything they do.
As a Christian and being spirit filled, I have compassion for Maria. It appear that she didn’t come to the US illegally. The US has to stop this illegal immigration and deport folks, especially the criminal element. Maria certainly doesn’t fit this criteria along with many others who are here legally. When I farmed I worked with many folks who were here illegally, worked hard, and wanted nothing but a better life. I helped many of them get legal papers when President Reagan created the amnesty program in the 1980’s. We must be a law abiding country, but this always has to be guided by compassion for the people that the laws effect.