Immigration and Deportation in Real Time
- Dave Workman
- Jun 28
- 3 min read
Extend me a little grace: this is a diversion from our usual leadership articles.
Then again, leadership can be a squishy thing, right?
A few days ago I got an email from a friend who works for an organization called Undivided (a racial reconciliation and justice ministry) about a small press conference for a detained immigrant from Guatemala named Alonzo Mendez.
I still have a soft spot for Guatemala—many years ago, I was part of a team that helped plant the first Vineyard church in Guatemala.
Alonzo has lived in the U.S. for 3½ years, is an evangelical believer, and a seminary graduate. He was shopping for birthday supplies at a Kroger supermarket on the west side of Cincinnati and was suddenly arrested in front of his partner and their two kids, ages 4 & 7. ICE threatened to detain his partner as well, leaving them traumatized and shaken. I now have grandchildren that age; I can’t even imagine the fear if their mom and dad were suddenly taken away in an instant.
I said I would be glad to attend.
Two hours before the press conference, I received a text asking if I would speak for a few minutes to represent clergy. I said, “Of course” (though I’m no longer officially “clergy”!).
Maybe 40-50 people were there at the Homeland Security Office. Speaking were Troy Jackson (Undivided Executive Director), Walter Vasques (BLOC Ministries), Don Driehaus (city council candidate), and myself (former drummer).
Here’s a transcript of my little talk:
“Hi, my name is Dave Workman. I pastored at Vineyard Community Church for nearly thirty years and now work with the Elemental Group to help faith-based nonprofits and churches get a little more effective.”
“Those of us in America who call ourselves ‘Christians’ know that deep down we are first and foremost citizens of another country, of another Kingdom, of the last and final Kingdom. And the King of that Kingdom lays out an ethic in the longest recorded sermon of the New Testament—the Sermon on the Mount—which can be summed up best as: ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.’ We live by the law of love that says, ‘Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.’
“If, God forbid, our country entered another Great Depression, where you could find no work, where opportunity and food were scarce, if government corruption and gangs threatened the lives of your family members, where you could see no future for your children, and you found out that across the border in Canada was work that paid $100 an hour, you would do anything to cross that border. If the wait time was years, guaranteed you would slip across that line the very next night for freedom and opportunity, risking all for life itself.
“As Christians and Americans, let’s not allow mothers and fathers to suddenly disappear, to be vanished away by men in masks, with no opportunity to defend themselves according to the law. This is not who we are; we are better than this. All we are asking for is due process for Alonzo.
“I believe that in the end, a nation will not be judged by its power, but rather by its mercy. Or as our King says, ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in…’
“Thank you.”
Two minutes and seventeen seconds. A record for an ex-preacher.
Alonzo is still sitting in a detention center, awaiting deportation, reportedly receiving one meal a day, with no legal path forward.
We are better than this.
Dave Workman | The Elemental Group
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