Immigration Workshop for the Local Church

by IRM

“Everyone has the right in the USA, even an undocumented immigrant, to take the Fifth Amendment if you are stopped by a police officer,” Valverde said. “Otherwise anything you say may be used as proof against you according to the law in a criminal context.”

Hugo Raul Valverde, Attorney Partner of Valverde & Rowell, addressed this issue with the inquiring crowd at the Immigration Workshop, Saturday, March 21, 2009. Tidewater Hispanic Evangelical Ministers Association (THEMA) and Regent University School of Divinity-Latino Pastoral Development Program sponsored the event. Many pastors and lay leaders came to the Regent University Campus seeking current information on the civil rights of immigrants in general but particular for the state of Virginia.

Valverde provided information (pro bono) as participants laid out a variety of real-life scenarios experienced or projected. Licensed Minister Lucy Bastidas, of Rock Church, voiced her gratitude for the workshop, “I have tremendous compassion for immigrants, documented or not. We need to be informed on the issues and the laws that affect the people we serve.”
Five new cases a week, through calls from detainees or immediate family, prompted Valverde’s desire to inform pastors on Immigration issues. He added, “My experience tells me that many pastors are the first to be called when an immigration situation arises.”

One of the many concerns generated from the audience was the issue of time illegal immigrant detainees are incarcerated. The Attorney shared the following information,

“We have a Federal Regulation on the books that speaks to time limits that detainee’s can be held after they’ve paid their bond or finished court appointed time. If the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed a “detainer” order on the undocumented individual at the jail site; ICE should pick up the individual to start any deportation proceedings within 48 hours after time required by a judge has been served. The law is designed to protect the right that you can’t hold someone in jail forever without taking action on their case.”

The questions continued for almost two hours over schedule as Valverde spoke on the future of Immigration Reform indicating that the current administration is reviewing aspects of the Reform. Among those issues being reviewed he noted: 1) The Dream Act, affecting children raised in USA but unable to attend college paid by the states, 2) undocumented parents being separated from their citizen children when deported, and 3) overall condition of the detention facilities for immigrant detainees.

“Illegal immigrants have committed a civil violation not a crime under the criminal code. In my country of Peru, individuals would be fined for a civil violation like overstaying a visa, not serve jail time. But here they’re jailed in the same jails as violent criminals and in horrible conditions. Only recently has there been a change to house undocumented in Portsmouth and under better conditions while awaiting deportation.”
Participants welcomed these words “better conditions” for detainees. Rosa, a pastor’s wife who drove from Elizabeth City and Pastor Flores who came from Chesapeake left the workshop saying, “we needed to hear the legal kind of information provided here today.”

Both Pastor Carlos Ramos of THEMA and School of Divinity Dean Michael Palmer addressed the public projecting that the Immigration Workshop marked the beginning of more co-hosted efforts to serve the local evangelical community on current and pertinent issues.
Reach Valverde & Rowell, located in Virginia Beach, at 757) 422-8472.

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