Newtown Interfaith Council (NIC) invited representatives from Greater Danbury Area Unites for Immigrants (GDAUI) to discuss how interfaith members can support local immigrant communities at their Tuesday, November 11, meeting.

GDAUI is a collective of local immigrant community leaders, Danbury immigrant-led organizations, and other allies who are committed to protecting the larger Danbury area’s immigrant community.

Much of the Tuesday evening meeting platformed three representatives from GDAUI and gave them a chance to speak about their experiences in the collective.

This comes after Newtown Congregational Church Lead Pastor Matt Crebbin was recently approached by Sheila Cole, a member of his church for several years, about the group.

Cole asked if she and other GDAUI representatives could come to an interfaith council meeting and speak to them about their work, to which Crebbin said yes.

“We thought it’d be a good idea to invite [Greater Danbury Unites For Immigrants] here and figure out how ... faith communities can be more aware or get involved with their work,” Crebbin said.

For NIC members who could not attend the meeting, or for people in their congregations, Crebbin said they could pass information along or encourage people to share information online.

Personal Experience

Juan Fonseca Tapia, an organizer and co-founder of Greater Danbury Area Unites for Immigrants, spoke first. He shared about his experience working with Hartford Interfaith Action Alliance and how it carries over into what he does now.

“Seeing people of faith coming together to organize, knowing that there are congregants that want to go beyond charity work — which is needed — but seeing them really work towards transforming systems of violence, that was a great experience [for me],” Fonseca Tapia explained.

In terms of the work GDAUI is doing, Fonseca Tapia noted there is great opportunity for people in the interfaith community to step in “now more than ever.” He said that Danbury has experienced injustice when to comes to immigration enforcement.

Fonseca Tapia said the city has experienced two major raids by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The first was on June 16; Fonseca Tapia said they still do not know the exact number, but know there were between 20-25 people that were taken.

“And then on the week of August 11, we know that 19 people were taken — just in one week,” Fonseca Tapia continued. “When it comes to ICE, Danbury has unfortunately become the epicenter of ICE terror.”

GDAUI members have also witnessed Danbury Police Department collaborating with ICE, according to Fonseca Tapia.

He noted that several members of the collective’s rapid response team have been on the ground “almost every day ICE has been present in Danbury and have witnessed that collaboration.” Fonseca Tapia also said ICE has called the police on these GDAUI representatives.

“Our approach has been to directly work with congregations that are seeing the work we are doing,” Fonseca Tapia explained.

Crebbin said the hard part about collaborating with multi-faceted groups of faith communities is that they may not be on the same page politically.

“The strategy for us, I would assume, is to not act as an interfaith council, but to act as individual faith communities and invite people to be involved,” Crebbin said. “That’s kind of the nature of the collaborative effort of the interfaith community.”

On The Ground

Fonseca Tapia suggested that clergy members could be available to be a part of the aforementioned rapid response team.

Cole spoke about her experiences with GDAUI, going to businesses in Danbury to pass out information about the group. She said they have also passed out “know your rights cards,” which contain information on what to do if ICE comes to someone’s home or approaches them in public, at work, or at traffic stops.

She passed out these cards along with several informational pamphlets about GDAUI. Among the items Cole handed NIC members were “red cards.”

Cole said people can put these cards in their car window to tell ICE they do not have to open the door, speak to them, answer their questions, or sign or hand any documents based on their 5th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution.

In addition to canvassing around the Danbury area, Cole said she has also attended a post-disappearance workshop, where parents can fill out paperwork in the event they are taken or are unable to provide for their children.

Sierra-Marie Gerfao, a half-time minister at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Danbury, called it family emergency preparedness.

Cole said it authorizes someone “to be able to pick up their children from school, to be legal representation for them, to help with passports, and so on.”

Lifeline

Gerfao then proceeded to talk about Interfaith Family Ministry, a statewide organization that came together around the same time as GDAUI, anticipating the needs for families who were targeted by immigration enforcement.

What the Interfaith Family Ministry did, she said, was “think of ways to respond when families have somebody who is abducted by ICE.”

“Maybe people are going to need childcare, maybe they’ll need transportation, what are all the different kinds of needs they’re gonna have? All of those kinds of questions,” Gerfao said.

She also said this extends to faith needs they might have, such as a visit from a clergy person. In turn, Gerfao said Interfaith Family Ministry started setting up statewide networks to address practical needs and spiritual needs.

This is particularly important, she said, because there are “things that only clergy can do.”

“Only clergy are probably going to be able to get into these detention facilities to see immigrants,” Gerfao said.

She spoke about her own experiences with this. Gerfao noted that people who are held for immigration reasons may be held in the same detention facilities as people who are there for criminal purposes. However, she said they are held in two different systems that result in two different experiences.

She said people held in immigration are not getting fed; they may get one meal or less a day, and they may get one bottle of water a day.

The other thing that will happen is, if someone is not getting fed, they are either sharing food with other people or fighting over food. The latter can led to people ending up in solitary confinement or other dangerous situations.

“And so we quickly recognized that clergy can be a sort of lifeline because it may be the only people that somebody sees,” Gerfao said.

However, she added that ICE detainees may be denied visitation altogether, even from clergy, even when they’re on their deathbed.

While there is no detention facility in Connecticut contracted with ICE, Gerfao said they have people go to facilities all over the country.

“We have people in Rhode Island, in Massachusetts, in New Hampshire; those are some of the closer places,” Gerfao said.

Ways To Help

Gerfao asked NIC members to be involved in a holiday gift project run by GDAUI and Stamford/Norwalk Unites for Immigrants. This project supports 65 children whose families have been affected by the detention of a loved one by ICE, as well as adults who continue caring for them. These groups are trying to deliver Christmas gifts to those children.

Each child will receive three gifts, and each adult one gift, with the price range for all gifts around $25.

“So that’s one specific ask that I can give you; if your congregation is willing to take part in a gift-giving project, then please let me know,” Gerfao said.

Congregations had until the end of that week to decide if they would participate.

In an email after the meeting, Gerfao suggested other ways for faith communities to help immigrants. These suggestions include: collect grocery gift cards for families impacted by ICE, host a “share the plate” offering collection or make another financial collection for GDAUI, and encourage congregation members to volunteer with Interfaith Family Ministry.

As for clergy, Gerfao suggested they can tap into clergy networks near detention centers across the country and ask if anyone would be willing to visit Danbury’s detained immigrants. She also asked to let her know if they would be willing to “build a network of clergy who can respond to the spiritual needs of families following an ICE-abduction.”

Future Events

NIC members also discussed plans for gatherings in the near future. While the council has traditionally held an Interfaith Thanksgiving Gathering, Crebbin said felt as though they “didn’t have enough time to organize it” this year.

The gathering, held on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, lets people across all faiths come together for conversation, prayer, and music.

In lieu of hosting an Interfaith Thanksgiving Gathering this year, NIC encourages community members to make a donation to FAITH Food Pantry and other local food pantries.

Crebbin also talked about the 12/14 Service of Remembrance, an annual public gathering for the community to honor those who died at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.

Trinity Episcopal Church Director Andrea Castner Wyatt said she would be unable to host the event at her church, so Crebbin said they would be happy to host it at Newtown Congregational Church instead.

As such, the 12/14 Service of Remembrance will be held at Newtown Congregational Church, 14 West Street, on Sunday, December 14 at 7 pm.

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.