Deporting Clergy, Making Room For Illegals

Yet Another Step In Dismantling America

“We were right on the edge of becoming permanent residents, and boom, this changed,” Colombia-born Castillo said as his wife rocked their 7-month-old boy, a US citizen by birth. “We have done everything correctly, from here onward we believe that God will work a miracle. We don’t have any other option.”

Rev. Gustavo Castillo leads the Pentecostal congregation in a riot-torn Minneapolis suburb through prayer, scriptures, rousing music and sometimes tearful testimonials.

TURNING FOREIGN INVADERS INTO DEMOCRAT VOTERS

A sudden procedural change in how the Biden Regime processes green cards for foreign-born religious workers, together with historic highs in numbers of illegal border crossers, means that thousands of clergy like Castillo are being deported.

To become permanent US residents, which eventually leads to citizenship, foreign nationals apply for green cards. A limited number of green cards are available annually, set by Congress and separated into categories depending on the closeness of the family relationship or the skills needed in a job.

Historically, for faith leaders, the waiting line has been short enough to get a green card before their temporary work visas expire, attorneys say. That changed in March when Biden’s State Department announced that for nearly seven years it had allegedly been placing in the wrong line applications for “neglected or abused minors” from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, and would now start adding tens of thousands of those to the clergy’s queue. Since the Obama Administration, a surging number of youth from these countries have sought humanitarian green cards or asylum after illegally crossing into the U.S.

FIVE-YEAR PLUS BACKLOG

This is the perfect way to keep law-abiding clergy out of the country and to help military-aged men, who entered illegally, gain legal status. This change means that only applications filed before January 2019 will be processed, moving to the front these Central American “minors,” while deporting clergy with expiring visas, like Castillo. NOTE: Since these applicants filed at least five years ago, few remain minors.

“They’re doing everything they’re supposed to be doing and all of a sudden, they’re totally steamrolled,” said Matthew Curtis, an immigration attorney in New York City whose clients, like an Israeli rabbi and a South African music minister, are running out of time. “It’s like a bombshell on the system.” Attorneys estimate so many people are now in the queue that the wait is at least a decade long, because only 10,000 of these green cards can be granted annually.

Across all faith traditions, there are few options for these workers to continue their US-based ministry, attorneys say. At a minimum, they would need to go abroad for a year before being eligible for another temporary religious worker visa, and repeat that process, paying thousands in fees, throughout the decade, or for however long their green card application stays pending.

“A big concern is that leaving is not really viable. The church will replace the pastor or shut down, it’s too much instability,” said Calleigh McRaith, Castillo’s attorney in Minnesota.

As with Castillo, many of these foreign clergy minister to legal & illegal immigrants in their own language. Apparently, after inviting them to make the difficult journey to America, the Biden Regime would deny them religious services. Congress could fix this problem, which was wholly created by the Biden Regime; however, Joe Biden would likely veto any legislation.