A few weeks ago, pastor Angel Campos had a difficult conversation with a member of his congregation at Monte Vista Baptist Church in Phoenix, Arizona. The house of worship had been providing shelter to Central American asylum seekers — and the young man wanted that to stop.
“He came to me and said, ‘I’m Republican’,” said Mr Campos. “And I said: ‘Good for you, what does that have to do with me?’ He said: ‘What you’re doing is very Democratic.’ I said: ‘No, it’s biblical’.”
The argument ended there, and the young man, along with his parents, quit the church. Undeterred, Monte Vista continued its work as part of a grassroots network of nonprofit groups that are helping tens of thousands of migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras as they arrive in the US.
The non-profits are pitching in as Donald Trump’s administration has been cracking down on illegal and legal immigration. The White House said on Wednesday it was scrapping a 20-day cap on the amount of time migrant families entering the US illegally could be detained — allowing for families to be held indefinitely. Earlier this month, the Trump administration rolled out new rules that will make it harder for legal immigrants to enter and stay in the US if they claim government benefits such as food stamps, housing subsidies and Medicaid.
Churches in Phoenix, 250km from the US southern border, began sheltering migrants in late 2018 as US authorities sought help in dealing with growing numbers of arrivals from Central America. The congregations provide food and shelter for a few days at a time for a subset of migrants — families with children who have a sponsor in the US and have been released from custody while their asylum claims are processed.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement had traditionally helped newly released asylum seekers make travel arrangements, giving them 10 days to make it to their sponsor’s address and check in with local ICE officials, or risk being detained again.
But last October, ICE suspended such assistance. Hundreds of families with young children were released from detention centres, with little more than bottles of water and instructions to make their way to court hearings.
In Phoenix, many migrants wound up on the streets or at the Greyhound bus station — nicknamed “the ditch”. Volunteers began showing up, offering food and water, said Connie Phillips, chief executive of the Lutheran Social Services. A “scramble” for beds would follow.
“There hasn’t been a humane response [from the government],” said Beth Strano, asylum seekers and families co-ordinator at the International Rescue Committee. “There’s been plenty of time to pick up the slack.”
Mr Campos, a native of Mexico who is now a US citizen, became involved in October after hearing that immigration officials were appealing for help from non-profit groups.
One day after he called ICE, 75 asylum seekers stepped off buses outside Monte Vista. Before long, Mr Campos said, “we were getting people every day”.
By December, so many immigrants were arriving that Mr Campos told authorities he could only receive groups on Mondays — unless families had nowhere else to go.
The number of incoming asylum seekers has slowed since May as the scorching desert heat has discouraged travel. But since December, ICE in Arizona has released around 40,000 family members, with individual churches welcoming hundreds a week.
Phoenix volunteers expressed shock at the treatment of the migrants. Upon arrival in the US, families are detained in crowded border patrol facilities so cold their residents refer to them as “the icebox”.
“They’re told that they’re worthless, they’re useless, they’re filthy, they’re stupid, they’re criminals,” said Jennifer Buck, founder of volunteer group All Hands AZ. “America doesn’t want you is a big one . . . That’s what we hear from every single group.”
Mr Campos said a Guatemalan woman travelling with her baby told a particularly harrowing tale. “Her baby was crying in the border patrol camp — she didn’t have breast milk,” the pastor said. “The baby was hungry, and the guard got milk and poured it on the ground in front of her.”
Providing help in historically Republican Arizona has not been easy. Last year, three garbage dumpsters outside Mr Campos’s church were set on fire, and his car was broken into. He blamed protesters, though the Phoenix police were unable to identify the culprits.
This year, a group of churches, including Monte Vista, filed a lawsuit to seek protection from two far-right groups they said were turning up at shelters — often armed. Security guards have been posted outside some churches housing asylum seekers.
Three days after Christmas, two reputed members of the far-right Patriot Movement AZ appeared outside Monte Vista with a megaphone and accused Mr Campos of being paid by the government to assist “illegal” immigrants.
“At what point are Americans going to stop being screwed over by this invasion?” asked one, in a video posted on Facebook.
The pair of protesters returned on New Year’s Eve, chanting “shame on you, fake pastor”. On the pavement, a wheelchair-bound man passed the women protesters. “Don’t ask them for help, sir, because they won’t help you,” one of the woman told him. “You’re an American.”
Additional reporting by Lauren Fedor in Washington
