Members of the faith community held a protest Monday at the U.S. Immigration and Customs office in downtown Milwaukee. They called on the Trump administration to allow immigrants and refugees stopped at the Mexican border to apply for asylum and enter the U.S.
U.S and Mexican authorities sealed the border south of San Diego last month after hundreds of refugees arrived seeking to escape unrest in Central America.
About 30 people marched outside the office on E. Knapp Street. Some carried signs that read “Asylum for Endangered Peoples” and “No Human is Illegal.” Walter Baires is pastor at Ascension Lutheran Church in Milwaukee. He's an immigrant from El Salvador, and he begged the Trump administration to let those seeking asylum into the country.
“I just became a U.S. citizen a few, a month ago, and the face of this country is changing for good. Don’t be afraid. The people who are coming are good people,” Baires says.
He says what upsets him, are reports of authorities using tear gas to disperse the crowds at the border. Another person who spoke is the Rev. Jennifer Nordstrom of the First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee. She says she was horrified when she watched news accounts. She called for humane treatment of asylum seekers.
“When I looked at the border and I saw them tear gassing children, I thought to myself, who are we? We recognize the Bible as a sacred text and I keep thinking about that verse from Matthew that said, 'I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me,' ” Nordstrom says.
Another participant was Martin Juache from the immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera. He called on the Trump administration to reverse its stand.
“We deplore all the policies that are undermining immigrants. We deplore also the way that this government is separating families. We deplore also the way the government is obstructing the borders,” he says.
Juache says the group has a lot of work to do, in its effort to convince the Trump administration to allow people at the border to seek asylum in the U.S. But, he expressed hope that the effort would prevail.
News of the march from Central America to the U.S. border first surfaced in October. Trump initially tweeted that “anybody entering the U.S. illegally, will be arrested and detained, prior to being sent back to their country.”
When the migrant caravan reached the border, Trump tweeted “No Crossings” as U.S. and Mexican authorities sealed it. At the same time, Trump acknowledged that agents used tear gas on the crowds because they were “very tough people.” He told reporters outside the White House “nobody is coming into our country unless they come in legally.”
