COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, Minn. (AP) — For more than two hours on Sunday afternoon, the Reverend Gustavo Castillo led the Pentecostal congregation he has raised in this Minneapolis suburb through prayer, Scripture, uplifting music and sometimes tearful testimony.
But it may all be over soon. A sudden procedural change in the way the federal government processes green cards for foreign-born religious workers, along with historic highs in the number of illegal border crossings, means thousands of clerics like him lose the ability to remain in the country.
“We were right on the edge of becoming permanent residents, and boom, this changed,” said Colombian-born Castillo as his wife rocked their 7-month-old son, a US citizen by birth. “We have done everything right, from here on we believe that God will do miracles. We have no other choice.”
To become a US permanent resident, which can eventually lead to citizenship, immigrants apply for a green card, generally through a family member or US employer. A limited number of green cards are available each year, set by Congress and separated into categories depending on the closeness of family ties or skills required in a job.
Citizens of countries with disproportionate numbers of migrants are placed in separate, often longer, green card queues. Currently, the most overdue category is for married Mexican children of US citizens – only applications filed before March 1998 are being processed.
Although a sudden change in the way the US government processes some green cards threatens the Colombian-born priest’s ability to stay in the country, his dedication to a mostly immigrant group is undaunted, Rev. Castillo. AP
For religious leaders, the line has historically been short enough to get a green card before their temporary work visas expire, lawyers said.
That changed in March. The State Department announced that for nearly seven years it has placed in the wrong queue tens of thousands of applications for neglected or abused minors from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, and will now begin adding them to the general queue with priests. Since the mid-2010s, increasing numbers of youth from these countries have obtained humanitarian green cards or asylum after crossing illegally into the US
The change means only applications filed before January 2019 are being processed, moving Central American minors forward by several months but giving priests with expired visas, like Castillo, no choice but to leave their US congregations.
Pastor Gustavo Castillo prays for God’s blessings on his congregation at the Iglesia Pentecostal Unida Latinoamericana in Columbia Heights.AP
“They’re doing everything they’re supposed to be doing and all of a sudden, they’re completely stumped,” said Matthew Curtis, an immigration attorney in New York City whose clients, such as an Israeli rabbi and a South African music minister, are pressed for time. “It’s like a bomb on the system.”
Lawyers estimate that so many people are now in line that the wait will be at least a decade, as only 10,000 of these green cards can be granted each year.
The Curtis firm advises prospective clergy applicants that “there is no indication when you can receive a green card.”
Pastor Gustavo Castillo preaches to his congregation.AP
That is likely to prevent religious organizations from hiring foreign workers at a time when they are most needed because of the growing demand for immigrant congregational leaders who can speak languages other than English and understand other cultures.
“There is comfort in practicing your religion in your native language, in someone close to your culture celebrating Mass,” said Olga Rojas, the Archdiocese of Chicago’s senior attorney for immigration. The US Catholic Church has also turned to foreign priests to alleviate the lack of local vocations.
At a Chicago-area parish that has helped with a surge of new immigrants from the border this year, two Mexican religious sisters have started a ministry for women in a shelter as well as English classes, Rojas said.
In March 2023, the US government moved thousands of green card applications for vulnerable minors from Central America in line for religious workers.AP
“These two sisters know they won’t get green cards,” he added, and they expect to lose other religious sisters who are teachers, principals and serve in other important roles. “That’s a disaster.”
Those from religious orders with vows of poverty, such as Catholic nuns and Buddhist monks, are particularly affected, as most other employment visa categories require employers to show that they pay foreign workers the prevailing wage. Since they don’t get paid, they don’t qualify.
In all religious traditions, there are few options for these workers to continue their US-based ministries, lawyers said. At the very least, they have to be abroad for a year before being eligible for another temporary religious worker visa, and repeat the process, paying thousands in fees, for decades – or however long their green card applications remain pending.
Yarleny Castillo comforts her 7-month-old son during a service led by her husband, the Reverend Gustavo Castillo.AP
“The big concern is that leaving is not really viable. Churches will replace pastors or close, it’s too much instability,” said Calleigh McRaith, Castillo’s attorney in Minnesota.
Being in limbo is challenging for affected religious workers, including Stephanie Reimer, a Canadian who serves with a nondenominational Christian youth missionary organization in Kansas City. His visa expires in January.
“I have prayed a lot,” he said. “There are days when it feels incredible.”
Martin Valko, an immigration attorney in Dallas whose clients include Methodist priests and pastors, said many rely on their faith to stay hopeful.
Since redirecting applications, there have been long delays that put ministers on temporary work visas like Castillo at risk of losing their ability to stay in the United States.AP
But realistic options are so few that the American Immigration Lawyers Association and religious leaders, such as Chicago’s Catholic cardinal and a coalition of evangelical pastors, have lobbied the Biden administration and Congress to fix the problem.
Administrative solutions could include allowing religious workers to at least file for their green cards, so they can get temporary work permits like those in other queues waiting for permanent residency.
The most effective and immediate solution is for Congress to remove from this category the applications of vulnerable minors, lawyers say. Despite their humanitarian nature, they form a large part of the ranks they share with religious workers, said Lance Conklin, a Maryland lawyer who co-chairs the bar association’s religious workers group.
“They should not compete with each other in the race to get visas,” said Matthew Soerens, who heads the Evangelical Immigration Desk, a national immigrant advocacy organization.
Back at the Iglesia Pentecostal Unida Latinoamericana, Castillo said he has ministered to a family with two young children who survived the Darien Gap, a jungle in Central America favored by smugglers that is among the most dangerous parts of the migrant journey, and a mother and daughter who said they came “through a hole” in the border wall.
“Some of them are in better migration situations” than he and his wife Yarleny, Castillo said. But he added that his call to serve them is undaunted. “I serve God. He will take charge of this matter while I lead those who have been entrusted to me.”
That’s why, even though they had to leave the country when their visas expired in February, the Castillos raised funds to buy a building where they rented a worship space. They also regularly drive 10 hours to South Dakota, where they established another church.
“In this job, someone is always helping a devastated migrant family,” said Yarleny Castillo. “And they need a space like this.”
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through AP’s partnership with The Conversation US, with funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is solely responsible for this content.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
