FAITH: Faithful Accompaniment in Trust and Hope
By Kathy Elliott & Katrina Thomas

How many times have we heard the message of Jesus to care for the stranger and the downtrodden? Perhaps so often that it can feel like a given. Yet in recent days it has begun sounding an alarm. Here in San Diego county, we find ourselves amid countless immigrant brothers and sisters who are being frightened, detained, and deported. What can we do to answer Christ’s call?

Several members of Good Sam’s Just Action group had the opportunity last week to be trained in Faithful Accompaniment in Trust & Hope, or FAITH. This local ministry was recently developed by the Catholic Diocese of San Diego and the San Diego Organizing Project. Its mission is simple: to provide a prayerful and supportive faith presence to our immigrant neighbors as they attend hearings and encounter ICE in the courthouse. The morning after the training, Katrina and Kathy showed up – a little nervously! – at San Diego’s immigration court downtown to start making a difference.

What was this like?

We found that the experience is rooted in faith and community. We were greeted by a welcoming group of 14 volunteer clergy and lay people. An experienced leader reminded us what to expect and how to behave. The first day, there was room to sit in a courtroom in silent prayer, supporting families from Mexico, Vietnam, and Africa, all seeking asylum. They brought their children – a fussy baby, a patient toddler, students in their best clothes and on their best behavior. The mothers and fathers looked tired and anxious. One Haitian immigrant, detained at Otay Mesa, was seen on video. ICE was not present that morning, but we heard that masked agents showed up in the hallways later and carried out some violent apprehensions.

At our next shift a week later, the courts were packed. We were asked to stand in the hallways with several groups of masked ICE agents. Their tactics had changed. Evidently uncomfortable with clergy and religious people witnessing their actions, agents now were presenting targeted immigrants with papers that required them to check in to ICE on another floor. The agents spoke kindly, saying that it would just take a few minutes. Our group leader told us what was really happening: the adults would be fitted with ankle bracelet trackers or deported. As they passed by with worried looks, not knowing what was in store, we offered a prayer of hope: “God be with you.”

Was it challenging to be present in these circumstances? Yes, yet it was also joyful at times and uplifting throughout. We received thanks from a number of immigrants and their lawyers, so we knew we were making a difference.

If any of you would like to learn more about the FAITH ministry, please contact Fr. Paul or one of us. If you would like to get more hands-on, we can put you in touch with Detention Resistance, an independent grassroots group that takes courtroom notes and documents immigrant information and ICE interactions. And if you simply want to pray with us, that is most welcome of all!

“And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8