NEWARK — On the eve of Good Friday, a crowd of pastors and faith leaders gathered outside migrant jail Delaney Hall to pray for a pastor who was detained by immigration authorities last month.
“What I know is we have a broken system that breaks people. What I know is that this administration said to the evangelical community, particularly the brown and Black evangelical community, that they would target violent criminals,” said the Rev. Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition. “What I know is that we’ve been lied to.”
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They were joined by Reps. Rob Menendez (D-08) and Adriano Espaillat (D-New York), members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who condemned the conditions inside the Newark jail and said they were able to visit the jailed pastor, Yeison Cortes Vasquez.
Menendez, whose district includes the detention center, condemned the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“On this Holy Week, when members of this administration, members of DHS, Republican colleagues of ours are going to church on Easter to pray, they will allow DHS and ICE to prey on our communities every other day of the week,” he told reporters after visiting with the pastor. “That is a reality people need to grapple with, and we need people to speak against it.”
Cortes Vasquez, 46, was detained by ICE agents in Newark on March 20. The Colombian native was stopped by officers in two unmarked vehicles who told him he had missed a court date, Salguero said. Since then, he’s been held at Delaney Hall, which opened last May in an industrial section of the state’s largest city.
Salguero said Cortes Vasquez has no criminal record, was following the proper channels to secure citizenship, and did not miss a court date as alleged by the officers.
The pastor was denied access to the Bible during his first week in jail, Salguero said, a claim federal officials deny. But since then, he’s found a group of like-minded individuals who are praying with him. The group of pastors — many from The Gathering Place, an evangelical church in Elizabeth where Cortes Vasquez serves — stressed that the visit during Holy Week holds deep significance for them as Christians.
The Rev. Enid Almanzar, chairwoman of the coalition, said keeping a pastor detained during this sacred week mirrors the injustice faced by Jesus Christ. Almanzar called the pastor’s arrest a “policy failure.”
“This is not just about one pastor. This is about the kind of nation that we are becoming,” she said. “We are witnessing a level of social erosion that should be troubling to all of us.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Cortes Vasquez entered the U.S. through JFK airport on Jan. 28, 2016, on a tourist visa that required him to leave by July 27, 2016.
“Against our nation’s laws, he knowingly overstayed his visa by nearly a decade and failed to depart. He will remain in ICE custody pending his removal procedures,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said any claim that Cortes Vasquez was denied a Bible while in detention is false.
“ICE facilities do not deny detainees access to holy coverings or texts. Detainees are given the opportunity to practice their religions. ICE provides all religious items permitted as soon as detainees make the request,” they said in a statement.
The congressmen said Cortes Vasquez is in high spirits and continues to minister while inside.
The toll of detention has weighed heavily on his wife and three daughters, who live in Elizabeth, but Cortes Vasquez fears what could happen to them if they visit the jail, they said.
Menendez and Espaillat said the pastor is being kept in a room with 10 other men, six of whom are coughing and dealing with respiratory problems. Menendez said there are only seven full-time medical staffers to deal with the 800 people currently held inside the jail.
“Worse than a 100 to 1 ratio of individuals being kept in inhumane conditions with inadequate access to health care,” he said.
Menendez has regularly visited the Newark jail, including the day that Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested last May during a melee that also resulted in Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-10) being charged with assaulting two ICE officers. Her case is ongoing.
Menendez said he’s seen no improvements in the jail over the last 11 months. While inside the facility Thursday, he said people complained about the lack of edible food, poor air quality, and the general conditions.
The jail is operated by GEO Group, which holds a 15-year, $1 billion contract with the federal government to house migrant detainees there. Espaillat said people are denied the chance to self-deport so that the jail can maximize its profits.
Cortes Vasquez’s next court appearance is scheduled for April 16.
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